An Undying Sentiment
by The Unknowing Herald
Summary: Unending-verse. Wars come and go, they take lives, they take homes. Yet, those truly affected are not the dead, but the ones scarred by them. Their lives are thrown into chaos as all they knew as theirs is lost. Still, no life is without a course. No beaten path lacks a route to happiness. Sometimes, true treasure is found at an arm's reach. You just have to know what to look for.
1. Will You?

**Author's Note: **Hello everyone. For once, let me quench those fears. This is not a full length story. This is simply a two-shot. Now, you may be asking yourself why I, who never do small stories, is writing a two-shot. Well, it is quite simple. Remember the poll I had for best character on my fics? Turns out, the mystery prize is just this. A one-shot around them. Now, Terra and Shin tied at the finals so… why not a Teryu two-shot?! This one is set on the Unending-verse, HOWEVER; it had nearly no spoilers for the fic, unless you mind knowing that Shin and Terra live at the end. Boom, spoiled! So yes, you can tell by the title what this is all about… let's put this three years of writing to a test, shall we?

* * *

**An Undying Sentiment**

**Chapter One**

**Will you?**

* * *

It was hard for Terra to think that only six months had passed ever since the true end to the struggles that had plagued her her entire life. A complete and utter resolution without any way around it. Or at least, that was how she felt. Which only made for everyday life to suddenly turn from an unending frenzy into a low profile, slow existence. Terra didn't mind it. If anything, she wholly embraced it. Her entire life had been chaos up until now, not even her times with her orphans had been completely safe as the World of Ruin had been a harsh mistress, however this didn't mean that her life was completely established and stable yet. No, there was still a lot of rebuilding to do.

"Mama, can you get me some more nails and a few boards? We're running out," Terra heard Dwayne ask from the top of their house.

"I'll be right back sweetie!" Terra exclaimed in all her motherly self before flying out the window and landing gracefully on the streets outside. She was glad she had her magic this time around. Putting it bluntly, Terra was not the most skilled in menial tasks, attribute that to most of her teenhood having been spent without anything other than war. So the fact that she could use her magic to lift things normal people couldn't or easily transport materials just made it all the better.

As she walked through the streets of the work-in-progress that was Mobliz, she felt a bittersweet feeling well up inside. On one hand, the one-house-town appeared to be growing exponentially due to the aggregation of people and the changes in geography, as it now stood at a VERY advantageous spot in the world, being at equal distances from many poignant points in the world. To the East, Midgar, which was practically the center of Fantasia. Not as big as Gaia's Archades and certainly not as gigantic as Pulse's Caelum, but still, it was the most advanced and largest city on the most modest of the three planets. To the west across the Ocean which Mobliz now bordered, was Baron. Figaro was now to the south and to the north, the welcome Narshe. All of these cities were barely over two to three hundred miles from Narshe and they all were more than wanting to have a taste of each other's wares. Midgar's established machinery, Figaro's man power and inventors, Baron's airships and resident Lunarians, and Narshe's seemingly never ending minerals. This whole meant that Mobliz was sure to become a perfect example of a town living off the trade, with the port being finalized in a couple of months and the market place taking precedence to everything but residences.

This was good for the town and for humanity in general but… Terra had to admit that she loved Mobliz when it was just the quiet and mundane residence of a group of orphans and their adoptive mother. It was a sign that not all to come would be easy to adapt to, but that hardly could get her down after all she went through.

"Looking for somethin'?" a familiar yet unexpected voice asked, a yellow flash plopping down just in front of Terra. Gasping and tethering back, Terra took a better look at the owner of the voice.

"Zidane?! What are you doing here?!"She let out in sheer shock. Hanging there from a window upside down, Zidane smiled his inverse smile at her. Zidane was a king now for all intents and purposes, Alexandria was half a world away. It took her his reminder to realize why he was there.

"Relax Terra, I'm here early for today's party!" Zidane exclaimed, jumping down from his poise and landing on his feet. "Someone has to help out, don't they?"

It then dawned to Terra that this was the day that had been scheduled for over two weeks now. She couldn't help but reminisce about it.

* * *

"Celes, as much as I enjoy my time with you, I don't see why you had to bring me here…" Terra told her best friend as they walked through a Caelumian clothes shop. While it WAS the day took off, the fact that they had gotten into an airship and crossed from a planet to another still did take more than a couple hours.

"It's been too long ever since you got any time in the mall. And by too long I mean the last three years," Celes told her as they drifted through the strangely populated clothes' shop. Caelum had taken the least amount of destruction, behind only Ivalice, so it wasn't really that surprising for Terra that they had it so easy to get back into their normal lifestyle, but a more selfish part of her did want them to help.

"Still… I did want to spend some time with my family. Why was there such a rush in coming here?" she wondered while Celes shuffled through a veritable mountain of dressed, her trained eyes picking all details from each with barely a look. It was so alienating to realize that Celes, the general raised and bred for nothing but warfare, was a gigantic shopaholic. She had first seen it during the whole Gau incident, and she still hadn't internalized it.

"Remember when we left Elysium? We decided that that was simply no time and place to have a celebration with the amount of injuries we had, not to mention the lack of PLACE to have it. Well, now we have a time and a place. That being Mobliz in about a week. And you have to look gorgeous for it," she explained, catching Terra off-guard in the next to last part.

"Wait, Mobliz?! Why Mobliz? It is barely a town yet. It's moving fast Celes yes, but there's no-"

"Terra, YOU are the guest of honour, the celebration wouldn't happen if it wasn't for you and that no-good boyfriend of yours. So it is only natural that… Oh my Le- I mean God!" everything that one would normally see in Celes had just vanished in the blink of an eye. Her eyes were glittering as if they housed stars, her hands were cupped around her face and there was a look of pure ecstasy and joy permeating from her entire body. This could only mean that she found a piece of clothing she especially adored. "Terra, we need to get you in this!"

* * *

"Hey! Hey! Fantasia to Terra! C'mon, I'm right here!" Zidane called, taking Terra back to reality. She let out a curt smile and nodded in response, being sure to add an apology.

"I'm sorry… still, you're helping with the preparations? That's very kind of you, thank you!" Terra told him with a more genuine smile.

"Anything for a lady… And Celes was more than convincing when we got here," Zidane explained, to which Terra could only chuckle. That was Celes alright. "Oh, that's right! She told me to get you to the stables! Apparently, you're getting the afternoon off!" Zidane told her with a smile, something that at first didn't sit that well.

"No, I can't! Everyone is working so hard that I-"

"Why do you think I agreed into working here today? C'mon Terra, I know you, you've probably been overworking yourself these entire six months… you deserve some R&amp;R, don't you think?" he questioned, hitting bull's-eye. Truth be told, Terra hadn't slept last night, being more focused in giving the final touches to the Inn's roof and top floor just that the extra workers that Figaro was sending them had some better place to sleep in.

"Yes but…" Terra looked back into Zidane's eyes and slowly came to grips that he had the look of someone who wasn't taking no for an answer. The Genome was, if nothing else, the Paragon of Women's Rights… well, at least when it came to them thanking him afterwards. "Alright… let me just get some supplies for Dwayne and I'll take the rest of the day off." She said, finally caving in to the demands of the king of Alexandria and her best friend.

"Don't, I'll do it! Whadaya need?" he questioned, Terra finally playing along.

"Nails and boards for the roof. He's working on the windows for our house," she explained, Zidane nodding enthusiastically before jumping back to the roofs of one of the houses.

"On it! Oh, and by the way, I talked to Shin and he should be taking care of your chocobo's plumage by now, tell him he gets the afternoon off too!" Zidane exclaimed while jumping from pole to house to cart. Terra smiled at his antics before heading down the path he had suggested her.

Truth be told, she was especially anxious to see Shin. He had been… absent the last couple of weeks. Not that she doubted him on the relationship or anything close to it, she knew he was probably overworking himself due to the guilt that no logic he or her tried could fully quench. But his absence only enhanced Terra's strange feeling. One that she couldn't describe. She suspected it had a lot to do with how her life was being lived, but she couldn't quite put into words why.

She eventually snapped out of her thoughts once she arrived at the Chocobo Stables, one of the few structures that had not been all that damaged, and for that was already mostly fixed. At the very first stable was, like Zidane had promised, Shin. He was obviously bickering with Stardust, for some things would never change. Stardust's relationship with Shin being one of them.

"Just hold still! I have to get that ash out of your feathers!" Shin cried as he tried to immobilize the golden bird, which seemed to take only enjoyment from seeing Shin struggle to clean her. She was far too prideful to have anyone clean her feathers, Terra had learned that the hard way. To make matters worse for Shin, Terra greeted them.

"Shin!" she called with enthusiasm deriving from seeing her beloved for the first time in two days.

"Oh, Terra! He-"of course, Shin got stampeded on by a single bird, as Stardust wanted nothing but some cuddles from her mother. It took a while for Shin to get up, but when he did, Stardust seemed to have calmed down from Terra massaging her gold-like feathers. "It's been a while…" Shin said with a dash of shame in his voice. "Had to make a delivery to Minegarde, so I couldn't come home last night. Stardust is here to prove it… if she wants to that is." 'Course, the bird did nothing but mock him with a "wark" before returning to his mother's care.

"She doesn't need to Shin, I believe you," Terra answered with a smile. "But do try and come back more often. It doesn't get lonely, but I do miss you. We all do…" she told him, built-up disappointment shining through without her will. Shin seemed to take note of this immediately, pulling her close to his chest. Her small body did pack far more strength than it should, but she used none of it. She missed being held. It was such a novel feeling yet it seemed to be one she could not live without anymore.

"That was the last time, don't worry…" Shin told her with a certainty that confused her for a moment, but she decided to let it flow into her with the same certainty Shin had demonstrated. After a few moments, Stardust made herself be reminded off with a loud wark, leaving the duo to separate. Terra giggled while Shin smiled back at the Chocobo, saying: "Impatient, aren't we?"

"Impatient?" Terra wondered, not knowing the meaning behind Shin's words.

"Bartz told us that they don't need us… so I decided on taking you to somewhere special!" Shin explained, open arms and smiling. Terra gasped but slowly nodded afterwards. She should have expected it. Climbing onto Stardust, she asked:

"Where to?" to which Shin only shook his head.

"I'm leading today. You're a better rider, but I want it to be a surprise and you haven't slept in over a day," he saw Terra ready for the question and just answered: "Katarin was worried."

"You win… lead the way…" Terra said, suddenly starting to feel the exhaustion take over. Shin took her spot as rider, sitting behind her and taking the reins. She heard him whisper something to Stardust to take it slow. The Chocobo nodded and began racing across the town flapping its wings before jumping and taking to the skies. Feeling her hair swing with the wind currents, Terra leaned back on Shin's chest and let herself rest for the first time in far too long.

* * *

She awakened not long after, the vibration coming from a landing behind enough to cause her temporary slumber to be broken. Her skin, while not quivering, adjusted immediately to the change in temperature, one of the various quirks of being partially made of mana. What did it adjust to? The cold and snowy climate of Narshe. For that is where Shin had taken her. Narshe had been a work in progress for the past 4 years or so and ironically meaning that what Terra saw now as not that much different from what she saw in the World of Ruin. Heck, it was better, as the city was not a ghost town anymore. It was bursting with people even.

"Narshe? Why did you bring me here?" She asked of her boyfriend just as he guided Stardust to the stables.

"A couple of things really," Shin replied, hopping off Stardust and paying the owner for a couple hours of spot. They DID need to come back to the party in time. Terra knew Stardust had taken an hour going through the 300 miles that separated Narshe from Mobliz, but that was it going slow. They could be in Mobliz in fifteen minutes if she went full throttle, so there was no real risk of missing the encounter.

They walked through the populated area of Narshe, Terra being more than pleased to see no hatred or scorn hazing its way from the eyes of onlookers, rather the kids seemed to be controlling themselves against pouncing on her specifically. She was not the biggest fan of mobs, but it was the little things that mattered to her, that showed that things were slowly moving in a better direction.

They soon arrived at the caverns, taking a different route from the mining facilities of course. Terra felt nostalgia flood her as the start of her adventure… her life even. From the liberation to the escape with the Moogles, it was there that her life was finally given back to her by Locke.

"Terra, would you close your eyes?" Shin asked as they neared a turn. At this point, he found his request odd but did it anyway. She felt herself being pulled by the hand by Shin for a solid minute, strange noises frolicking around her, but kept her eyes shut. That was until something round and fluffy hit her leg, a meek "kupo" being released into the air. Terra opened her eyes immediately and nearly fainted as she found herself and Shin surrounded by all kinds of Moogles. Ivalician bunny-like Moogles. Alexandrian Furry-Ball Moogles. And her own favorite classical Moogles, including Mog.

Unable to control herself, she got on her knees and scooped four Moogles, Mog included, into a squeaking hug.

"How did you all GET here?!" she exclaimed while furiously nuzzling the white fur balls with love and obsessiveness, pompons caressing her cheeks for extra enjoyment.

"Shin there knew how you felt when you saw this cave empty, kupo! So he came to me two months ago and asked me if I minded sharing, kupo! Of course I said I didn't, but I wasn't prepared to have Shin bring as many Moogles as he could find that had lost their homes here, kupo! We're still expanding, but the colony is bigger than ever, kupo, and it's all thanks to him! Kupo!" Mog explained, his voice more peppy than ever. He had always given hints of how he missed his colony, but this seemed to be more than making up for it all. Terra looked up to see Shin scratch the back of his head.

"You said you wanted to help Mog when Mobliz was done… well, I kinda did it anyway. Of course I didn't do it all by myself, I asked around and Hope was able to find the location of many refugees online, so I took those and brought them here. It's a work in progress, but I could tell it was bothering you, I could feel it, so… yeah. Hope said he is going to help in making it known that this mountain something Moogles that lost their homes can inhabit. You can even come visit them more often if you'd like! I don't mind, I love these little guys!" Shin exclaimed, scratching the chin of a nearby flying ball of fluffy fur.

"Shin… thank you," she mouthed before having her primal instincts pull her back into a cuddle fest. It was an hour before she went through all the Moogles, asking for their names and giving them the "Terra treatment", but she finally asked Shin what was the "other subject". All of this while holding a Crystalian Moogle baby, you know those Moogles that could pass for furry footballs with wings? Imagine them as babies. Yes. That.

"Well, there's a place I want to take you… feel free to bring that little guy if you want to," he added, knowing that Terra wasn't ready to stop both her maternal and cuteness loving instincts just then. She smiled warmly at him and decided to follow. She mused about how independent Shin had become over their first meeting almost a year ago. For the longest time he always needed someone else by his side to do things, yet now he had taken to himself to give a home to these Moogles. Granted, he had asked for help doing so, but the initiative was something he didn't have at the beginning. It was something both of them had developed over their time together.

They left the cave and headed towards what Terra realized to be the summit. With every step, a memory resounded. She was reminded of the battle that took place at this very portion of the mountain against the Empire, defending Valigarmanda. Her very first beating of Kefka, sadistically satisfying as it was. And the climb to the top that followed, where she for the first time realized she had a group of friends, not companions.

And at the very top, the nostalgic visage of the lone peak where once Valigarmanda stood brought her the most bittersweet of all memories.

"It was here, wasn't it Terra? That you first realized what you were." Shin told her, knowing full well that this was where she had first tranced. She slowly nodded back to him.

"My life… it was never the same after meeting Valigarmanda here. I managed to put it behind, I accepted what I am, but the memory is still not a happy one. I was so afraid… so ashamed when I looked into the ice and saw myself in it. My life hasn't slowed down ever since," Terra said with a nostalgic gaze into the skies.

"Well, it has now, hasn't it?" Shin questioned. Apparently, this was what he wanted Terra to realize. Or if he didn't, he still made her.

"Well I… don't feel like it has. I know it should but… everything is still changing so fast. Mobliz is growing larger and larger, everyone is moving on with their lives, Edge and Rydia got married a month ago. Locke's talking about having a kid with Celes... everyone seems to be finding their place in the world, their purpose, but I just feel more and more alienated. I don't know, maybe… maybe someone like me, bred for war, just can't find a purpose in a world of peace. Even in the one year between Kefka's downfall and the start of the final battle, I was still like this. Adrift as everyone changed around me. Fast. Too fast…" she gripped the baby Moogle tighter and felt something stream down her eyes. Were those… tears?

"So that is what is keeping you up all these nights…" Shin told her as he swept his finger through her cheeks. "I knew you were struggling against something, I knew it was something from your past, I just needed to be sure what it was. I had a feeling not even you did, so I brought you here to Narshe one of the places which has affected your life the most, memories do wonders on your mind and soul sometimes," Shin explained Terra while he pulled her in for a small embrace.

"You'd know about memories, wouldn't you?" Terra asked quietly, Shin nodding at her in response.

"However, Terra, there's no reason for you to be worried. Not everyone finds their place at the same time. Rydia and Edge spent seventeen years wobbling around, Rydia between our world and the Eidolons and Edge between Mist and Eblan before they finally found their place. Cloud… well, I think we all know about Cloud. Locke even lost his place and gained another one. Maybe you are right and things are changing too fast. They change so fast that they scare you. I can relate with it. But you DO have your place, with your kids. Maybe your purpose is just being their mother, maybe it's something else. Give it time. Don't be afraid of the change, of changing. We'll always be here to support you," he told her, cupping the right side of her face while he peered into those deep violet eyes. "I won't let you be left behind…" he whispered before slowly kissing her lips for a brief moment.

"I'm sorry Shin, it's just that… this kind of peace is still so foreign to me." She told him while taking her Moogle to her cheek, receiving a small peck on her cheek from the baby she held, warming her heart even more.

"You tell me, I never HAD peace ever since I was born!" Shin exclaimed with a smile, rubbing Terra's scalp before turning into the horizon. "Let's just take it easy Terra, we both have a kind of lifestyle we never even imagined ahead of us. With a bit of patience we'll get there, don't you agree?" Terra took a good look at the sun bathed snowflakes coming down from the sky, catching one in her hand. She looked down upon it and reminded herself of the very first time she took control of her body outside the empire.

"Yes Shin… I think we'll be just fine…"

* * *

The trip back to Mobliz was much faster this time, with Stardust indulging Terra into her pleasure of nigh-supersonic speed traveling, much to Shin's chagrin. When they landed, they took the fastest path towards their house to get ready for it. While suits and ties weren't called for, some degree of class was expected in any party of this nature. They got into their rooms and changed as fast as possible, and while Terra did take significantly less time than most girls on her clothing, tying a ponytail and prepping it takes some time, so she took slightly more than her boyfriend. When she left the room she found Shin waiting for her in a pair of brown jeans, a simple marine blue shirt and a brown loose jacket for to finish up. He never was much into the "classy" approach. Needless to say, when she did leave her room, Shin's jaw was loose.

Terra had decided to wear the dress Celes had bought for her not even a week ago. It was a light summer dress with just the right amount of formality and class for this kind of event. It consisted of a marine blue dress which covered her torso, hem of it going down to her just below her right knee and while cutting across her leg to her waist. Additionally, on her waist was a light green, nearly azure sash whose ends fell to the side of her more exposed leg, as if to draw attention to it. She wore a pair of golden bracelets on each of her wrists along with a gold chained necklace and pair of earrings, the necklace sporting a pair of blue jewels and a larger magenta tear-dropped shaped one, while the earrings sported blue tear drops. To put the final touch on it all her hairpin that held her ponytail was shaped like a white flower, one that just enhanced the fresh appeal of the ensemble of clothing.

"You look… I can't even…" Shin stuttered, just standing there looking for words.

"Just a simple, "you're beautiful" will suffice for now!" Terra teased while grabbing Shin's hand. "Let's go, you know how Celes can be when you miss the appointed time!" she exclaimed, a newfound joy brimming on the girl as she and Shin strutted down the stairs. She suddenly felt a pull stop her from leaving. She turned back to have Shin whisper:

"You're gorgeous." Before pecking her on the lips and opening the door himself.

"And you're cheesy," she spoke back, Shin shrugging in response. It WAS true.

When they arrived it was obvious that the festivities had already started but they were still in their infancy. The entire plaza was just filled with people of all planets and countries, large tables of food and drink scattered around while waitresses walked around to deliver snacks and drinks. At three different points there were strategically placed grills, being manned by Jecht Ramsey, Prishe Oliver and Gilgamesh Lagasse, AKA the trio of master chefs. A grill manned by Jecht was possibly the manliest grill ever.

"You're late… as usual," Celes said as she and Locke approached with a glasses, handing Terra and Shin their own refreshments for the evening.

"Did we miss something?" Shin asked earnestly, to which the general went.

"Do you count a sorry excuse for a speech from Edgar "missing anything"?" she questioned and sadly, no, not even Terra did.

"So, what do we do now?" Terra asked, Locke shaking his head.

"You have six months to catch up on. Zack wants a ward with your man and I'd bet you gil that that Luneth kid is frantically looking for you, so I'd say just let loose for a the night!" Locke told her, patting her on the shoulder before walking off to get some of Jecht's nearly finished hamburgers.

"Well, I'll see you in a bit, I have to go talk to Zack, you go and find Luneth, I'll find you in a second!" Shin exclaimed, strangely vanishing into the crowd. Terra wondered what had prompted such behavior, but did what she was asked to do. Walking through the crowd she spotted Luneth talking with Dwayne as he admired the baby. Accompanying Luneth was Cloud, unsurprisingly at this point, and Vaan, as he was the self-appointed big brother to the Onion Knight. Cloud basically wore what he always wore, ever the charmer I know, Vaan's shirt was kept, he simply removed all battle armaments from his normal clothes. Luneth wore an orange shirt, white baggy pants and a crown of flowers that Terra just KNEW Refia had made him wear.

"Terra! I've been looking for you!" Luneth exclaimed, running up to her and giving her a quick hug.

"Looking good today, huh Terra?" Vaan complimented off-handedly, greeting her with a hug of his own. Cloud just gave her the customary greeting.

"How have you all been?!" Terra questioned, eager to learn more about their past. She saw Dwayne take the orphans away to get them some alone time and she thanked him for it.

"Well… Ashe's pretty much codding my brain into nobility, so it's been a harsh half a year. Other than that, not much on my part. Rabanastre is pretty much the most untouched city, so it's mostly been me and Ashe…" he added a sly laugh at the end of it all, one that even Terra got the meaning of. "What about you kiddo? Heard your world got pretty messed up."

"Ur and Kazus are smalltime villages, so they got finished a month ago. We're mostly clearing up monsters around them and Sasune as it gets rebuilt. Ingus has been mostly drilling us into being "useful", only Refia gets a free pass since blacksmithing is considered useful. Even ARC has to work on monster clearing…" he sighed, clearly not the biggest fan of his job lately. Still, it only took Terra petting him on the head to dispel all bad thoughts.

"What about you Cloud, working on SOLDIER again?" Terra asked him, the spiky haired blonde shaking his head.

"I'm done with it for the most part. They call me for emergencies, but they have Zack to hold them together, he's far more into it than I am. I'm running the delivery business. Fast, more in demand than ever and it lets me see the world. I've been told by Marlene I have to be at home more often now that I am in a relationship, but I just tell her this will wane when the planets start getting back up," Cloud responded, having Terra smile about how predictable and unchanging he was. There was a much lighter aura around him, he seemed to be relaxed in his own, Cloudy way.

"What about you? How have you and dragon-guy been?" Vaan asked with a smile on his face.

"I've been… alright. Rebuilding Mobliz is my main focus, as is teaching my orphans. Shin's been taking some treks without me noticing and he's been busy too," Terra replied, any melancholy being dispelled at the memory of the conversation they had before.

"Yes, I have to admit it was nice of him to set up this party," Luneth said, causing Terra to step back in shock.

"He… what?!" she exclaimed, Vaan hitting Luneth on the top of the head.

"He TOLD US to keep it a secret numbnut!" Vaan admonished. He then turned to Terra and sighed. "Yeah, Shin proposed this to everyone. Seems like you were a bit mellow during this time so he got us together as soon as he felt it was possible, sappy guy he may be, but attentive to a fault." The Pirate turned King said with a shrug. Terra didn't know if she was surprised or just thankful. Likely both. She would have never imagined Shin going through such lengths for her. It truly warmed her heart.

"That does leave us with why he felt the need to do it. What has gone wrong Terra?" Cloud cut to the chase, having Terra actually having to think harder than she thought on it.

"I just… felt like there was something missing in my life. Things just moved so fast I got somewhat overwhelmed," she explained, to which Cloud was quick to point out:

"You are using the past tense," she had done it involuntarily, and did not understand why. Was it a good sign? A tongue slip? "Well, seems to me you'll be fine after today…" Cloud told her just as Bahamut landed on the north south of the plaza.

"STRIP POKER EDGE?! YOU ARE MARRIED! Or WERE married! Fry him Bahamut!" Rydia's outrage filled voice echoed.

"Not the town! It's barely getting up now!" Shin exclaimed, standing between Bahamut and Edge. "Just take him outside and shoot him.

"What the hell man! Zack did it too!" Edge shouted back, receiving nothing less than a shrug.

"Sorry, but Zack's only dating. You deserve it." Shin told him, truth be told, Zack WAS being whipped into shape by his current girl, but Edge's slow flight into oblivion was much more grave and let's face it, much more enjoyable.

"Some things never change…" Terra whispered to herself, the realization of it bringing a sort of relief to her being.

* * *

The evening soon turned into night as Terra talked the night away with the likes of her children, Celes, Cloud, Luneth, Ashe, Vaan, Rydia, the carcass formerly known as Edge, hell, she was even taken completely aback when she learned from Lightning that she was now officially engaged.

Terra cleared a few tables by herself, as expected, to the point where Gilgamesh was appointed as her cook for an hour or so. It all came to a climax when, near midnight a bonafied airship landed on the northern part of the plaza, bordering the outskirts. From it, searchlights emerged as a thick puff of smoke covered the top. The entire crowd had their eyes on the smoke some of them just calling what was going to happen.

"Hello Mobliz!" Yuna exclaimed as she left the mystery smoke. "My name is High Summoner Yuna, and I am here to rock your socks off!" Everyone snidely looked at Tidus, who mouthed; "I don't even know anymore!"

Right on cue, Yuna cued the music and began singing. Terra to admit that she did not expect Yuna's singing voice to be so good, much less one used for pop songs but truth be told, everyone was dancing in less than a minute's time from her starting. Except the drunk ones. Those were not classified as dancing.

Terra shivered at seeing Shin move towards her. She did not dance. At all. He was her hero whenhe instead told her to:

"Let's go to the beach, I'm not in the mood to dance." She was more than happy to oblige.

* * *

As you could deduce, Mobliz had become far closer to the beach than in the World of Ruin, being a port town now, but the beach was still the same one, Terra guaranteed that. The pale moonlight reflected on the calm see as she and Shin took off their footwear and had their feets massaged by the sand.

"Escaped just in time… last thing I want is to try to dance," Shin mused, kneeling on the ground before sitting.

"I thought you remembered how to, you have memories, don't you?" Terra asked him, mirroring his efforts.

"No muscle memory. Meaning I'm just as inept as you!" Shin exclaimed, earning himself a slap on the knee.

"I'm NOT inept… just didn't practice is all…" she meekly defended, Shin bellowing laughter in return. She slapped him again, causing him to grow silent. They simply stared into the silver sea together, their ears tuning out the music from the distance, it was both relaxing as it jogged Terra's memory. She had one thing to tell Shin. "You set this all up… didn't you?"

"Luneth?" Shin asked with a knowing look.

"Luneth," Terra confirmed, Shin chuckling in return. "If you did all of this for me Shin… thank you. I… I had an amazing time with everyone here."

"Well, Cloud told me something new," Shin told her, making Terra bite her lip in response. "He told me you felt like you were missing something… something you couldn't or didn't name. Care to share?"

"I… I wish I knew what it was Shin. I left nothing out of our conversation, I would never lie to you. There's just been this yearning I had during these pasts months. A yearning I can't satisfy nor comprehend. If I'm honest, I'd say that THIS is the answer to my crisis. If only I could get to the bottom of it…"Shin nodded, as if expecting the response.

"Well, now you know about all my shenanigans but one. Reason why I spent the last two weeks so absent is because Elfé asked three materials off me. Some gold and silver from Narshe, an amethyst from Rabanastre and a piece of Orichalcum from Caelum. Needless to say, I was busy with it, but Zack showed me the results earlier today and it turned out just fine," Shin explained, to which Terra nodded, thankful he had put the final white lie to rest. She wondered why Elfé needed all of that, but was decided against it. Minutes… or was it hours? She didn't know, she just knew that time had serenely passed while the two of them gazed at the sea together. It was a simple kind of pleasure, but the good kind. Shin, however, had something else in mind. He seemed to be slowly but surely changing expression. Almost like he was gathering courage. Eventually, he asked:

"Terra, do you know where we are?" Terra perking up and wondering what he meant. "I was… born here," he told her, realization dawning in Terra. Yes, the orphans had found him stranded on this very beach ten months ago. "For me, this location is equivalent to Narshe. I have memories of other pasts, but this… this is where my life started. I've come here several times to think over the past months… and I have dealt with the same problems you have."

"Was this why you lead me to Narshe? Because you had done the same?" she asked of Shin, who slowly nodded.

"We know the same about the world, little of peace and much of war. I was even born with the intention of battling immediately. I felt just like you did and do. Like it was all changing too fast. Like everyone was leaving me behind… but most of all, there was this void inside me. I came here for two entire months, just looking for what it was that I was lacking. Then, the realization struck," Shin told Terra, slowly rising to his feel and walking to the side, Terra following him. "I think everyone feels like this at one point in their lives. Where they have no set course and are just terrified everyone will just sail by them, leaving them alone in life. Maybe it's when faced with an unsurmountable problem, maybe it's when they are sick, maybe it's simply their lack off course in life. It doesn't really matter, does it? Because all of them, all of these problems can be solved in one way."

"Shin?" Terra asked him, noticing a wholly uncharacteristic tone from her boyfriend. He had stopped walking and turned to face her with a mixture of seriousness and a gentleness she did not expect to see of him in this situation.

"Terra, everyone needs someone else to steer the course when they lose their way. Someone to guide them. Maybe the same person will need your guidance in another time of her life. Maybe they need their guidance just as much as you need theirs…"he took a step towards her, cupping her cheek and drifting into her eyes once again, smiling gently as he did. "I told you I wouldn't let you be left behind Terra… and I'm willing to see this promise to the end,"

Terra could not believe what she was seeing right now. Shin was slowly dropping down on one knee, reaching for his back pocket. Her mind knew what he was about to say, but denied it, her heart knew what he was about to ask, so it stopped, her eyes knew what they were about to do, so they watered.

"Terra Branford…" Shin began, his right hand rising above his left, both of them encasing a small black box that slowly, gently opened, glowing in a warm white light that reflected the moon. "Will you marry me?"

Terra's heart just stopped. She could not think of anything right now. Her lips trembled, she was crying, she knew it. Her mind was blank, her feelings numb. She could not speak, her lips were simply unmoving. A moment passed, nothing changed. Yet, without any rational thought in her mind, her head nodded, without any beating in her heart, her instinct glorified Shin's request with an undeniable:

"Yes! Forever, yes!" she exclaimed, her heart and mind returning to her as Shin took her into his arms, raising her into the night sky with a cheer of joy. He spun her in midair as the obvious spies emerged from the sand.

"To think you finally did it…" Celes told them in the shakiest commanding voice ever told. She was holding back tears for the one she saw, no, the one that WAS her sister. Everyone else, Terra's children, Edge, Rydia, Cuore Zack, Aqua, Cloud, Locke, Vaan, Luneth, Bartz and Zidane, even Squall who had obviously been dragged here they all had the very same look on their face, all of them were either on the verge of tears or in tears. Well, not Squall or Cloud, but their smiles were far rarer than some tears.

"I was completely taken aback when this kid just took control of the situation! Setting up the party, the moogles, the ring… all by himself? Maybe she missed him, but she never found out! You pass kid, you freaking pass!" Zack exclaimed, his smile wider than everyone in there combined. The disciple had surpassed the master.

"The ring…" Terra began, realizing what this meant.

"Elfé asked me for the materials. Never said WHY!" Shin exclaimed while looking back at the ring case.

"Put a ring on her before she changes her mind!" Bartz joked, but Shin knew it had to be done. His heart was pounding harder than ever in his life as he took the ring he had had Elfé make, one whose entire band and setting was made of Orichalcum, the flame like metal that shone on its own accord, it's band decorated with gold and silver inlay, one that formed a small but visible silver and gold dragon motif slithering around it, leading to an elaborate setting modeled with a dual cupped white wings motif that shone like flames on the moon's eye, a single amethyst planted in-between the wings, a gemstone that reminded him and everyone of Terra's ethereal violet eyes.

"Shin I…" she began.

"You said enough Terra, you are worth this, you are worth this and infinitely more," Shin whispered as he slid it down Terra's ring finger. She gazed upon it in disbelief for a few moments, before having another primal urge taking over her. She took his now fiancée and pulled him in for a large but gentle kiss, one that let loose all the pent-up care and love she had for him for all these months. She didn't feel it anymore. That she was missing something. She knew she had found it. True treasure is never over the horizon, true treasure is always the one you can touch, always the one right in arm's reach.

"Well then Shin, care to share with Mama what your final plan is?" Katarin asked, leaving Shin to take the final word.

"Terra, our marriage is on our one year anniversary. May 17th. I hope you don't mind it being just a few months awa-" Shin's confession was sealed with another kiss. Terra didn't feel the need to talk. Not today. Today, she had finally found her answer.

Shin was her treasure, and she was his. That she now knew. That she would never forget.

* * *

**Post-Author's Note:** I won't lie. I got teary eyed writing this. Three years… three years have culminated in this. Nothing of grand proportions, just… just what I truly felt Shin and Terra's proposal would be like. I truly hope I made their characters justice writing this. Everyone, thank you for following me for these past years, you guys are truly the best and I hope I met your expectations. We are not done yet, we still have "I Do." To do, but until that is upon us, the best for you all, you are amazing readers! Ciao!


	2. Forever! Part 1: Father

**Author's Note:** Yeah, what you're seeing right below the note is true, this became a two-parter. After consulting with a couple of my closest readers, I determined that the wedding hitting around 14K was too large for its own good, and as such, adapted it by finding a good cutoff point, and giving you the chapter right here. It worked out well, as the two parts serve very different purposes, as you'll see. For now, just enjoy this what it is!

Special Thanks to Wood Dog for helping me optimize the chapter!

* * *

**An Undying Sentiment**

**Chapter Two**

**Forever! **Part 1:****

**Father**

* * *

'Twas the day before the wedding, and, as anyone would guess, Shin was restless. Scratch that. Shin had been restless for the past 48 hours. If not for longer. However, his restlessness had basically skyrocketed once Terra told him she was to leave with Celes to pick up her wedding dress. Once she had left, Shin could be seen pacing around Mobliz like a madman, catching the eyes of pretty much anyone in the vicinity, them being aware of the situation or not.

At first, Shin had tried to help with the construction workings. While the residential and commercial areas of Mobliz were done, the non-necessary-to-live foundations were still very barebones, like the city hall and some, and by that I mean most, of the gardens and any ludic facilities.

That plan soon backfired once he was informed by Sabin that no, he wasn't allowed ten meters near a construction area on the eve of tying the knot. And so, he moved on, going to the chocobo stables in search for some quality time with Stardust. Except Terra had taken Stardust, he should have seen that coming.

Shin shook his head and trudged onward, a strong feeling on unpreparedness never leaving him. During the last six months, him and Terra had become noticeably closer, something that Zack had to be proven of, as he was not sure that that was even possible. Yet, it was insane at times. Their biological clocks had apparently synched into waking up at around the same time, just in time for one to make breakfast for the entire house before the other woke up, they had frequently found themselves speaking in synchrony, suggesting the same solutions to problems when asked in separate, done a chore the other had forgotten without being asked… True, he and Terra had shared a mind link once, but this was not magic, this was natural.

They even enjoyed the same hobbies for the most part, being it reading, an occasional movie, taking trips on Stardust to observe other animals, Terra had even became adept to the strange craze of videogames that Zack had once brought into Mobliz a couple of months ago, when generalized electricity had finally been achieved.

No matter how you went about it, a couple that owed their lives to each other, had helped the other grow, courted each other for over a year and appeared to share interests and even ideas was ripe for marriage. Yet, Shin still felt unprepared. Not insecure, no, it was a different feeling, not one of not belonging with Terra, but one that incessantly told him that there was something he had to do to deserve her.

"Shin!" he heard the voice of Duane call from the side of the barn, the brown haired boy, now closer to a young man, waving at the fiancé of his mother. Shin took to checking out what he wanted. Despite the fact that he had never become quite as close with the plethora of children Terra had mothered across these years as the young woman herself, there was no visible bad blood between him and them, even though he felt as if he was stealing their mother away. "Shin, I need to ask you a favor…" Duane said, lowering himself and pushing the now two year old Leo into Shin's sight. The kid had was not the most courageous Shin had seen, but he was quite smart for his age, knowing quite a bit more words than other children that barely got past your knee. "Can you babysit Leo and the others? Katarin needs to go get something at the commercial district and I can't really stop showing up at the town hall, at least for a bit,"

Terra had tried to dissuade Duane as much as she could, but he had been adamant in becoming a part of the rebuilding project, Mobliz was his town after all. She had been just glad none of the Orphans had decided to follow suit.

"Of course Duane, you don't even need to ask for favors of stuff I'll have to handle on a daily basis from now on!" Shin said, the last part of it coming just plain awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. Duane wasn't half as concerned, as he turned to his child and whispered:

"See? Grandpa Shin will take you home!" he exclaimed, not a stutter in his voice as he smiled at the toddler. That was not the same as Shin, he had been left speechless at the words that had just left Duane's mouth. Even more so when Leo nodded back at the Mobliz Orphan, rushing over to Shin, grabbing onto his leg. "Now, what do we say Leo?"

"Thank you, Grandpa Shin!" he tweeted, his voice happy and peppy as it'd always been around Terra, yet, that was not what had thoroughly caught Shin off guard. No, it was the choice of words. Grandpa… he had never been called a father. Grandpa had actually come before Father for him. Noticing his soon-to-be-father-in-law's obvious confusion, Duane shrugged his arms, a bit more embarrassed himself as he delivered the reasoning.

"We taught him to call Mama Granny, so he just took to calling you Grandpa when he asked what is the "father" equivalent to "Granny"," he explained, clearly understanding how Shin was feeling at the moment.

Yet, he did not understand the pang of realization that had hit Shin like thunder. In one, swift train of thought, Shin's problem and his solution to it had unveiled in front of him.

"Duane, Terra should be arriving at around ten or something like that… can you get back a bit earlier?" Shin asked, Duane at first eyeing him strangely but nodded, he wasn't planning on working late with his mother's wedding right around the corner anyway.

"I'll be home in time for dinner tonight, don't worry," he told Shin, who nodded and started escorting the two-year-old home. He felt a slight pang of relief, but mostly determination, well inside him.

* * *

Later that same day, just before dinner, Shin found himself passing out on the couch after a full afternoon of attending to Leo's every wish, which had soon become the entire house's every wish, leading him to basically becoming a piñata for the orphans' enjoyment. He didn't mind it, he appreciated the fact that the toddlers would use him as a replacement for their "Mama" when she wasn't home, but boy did it tire him out… especially after a few mostly sleepless nights.

Needless to say, he was a bit surprised when he seemingly woke up, fully revitalized may I add, in the very same couch. However, breaking the fantasy that this was the waking world, he had woken in the darkened interior of his subconscious. It was strange really. The last time he had been here, Shinryu had prepared a fanfare of mosaics and symbolic imagery to welcome him. This time, it was just him, and the older version of him that he had come to visualize as Shinryu, his hair crimson and eyes gold, sitting on two opposite couches, a small wooden table at the center, floating through the unknown depths of his own mind.

"Been a while," Shin said, breaking the silence before Shinryu had a chance to slither away. During the months between the proposal and now, Shin and Shinryu had barely shared a word. Their relationship hadn't gone sour, Shinryu trying to hide his thrill and excitement at Shin's proposal had been quite hilarious for the young adult, yet, he had barely been around the last couple of months. No witty comments, no teasing, nothing. Shinryu, more than not, was a phantom in Shin's mind. Something Shin dared not to question.

"Thought you'd be more thankful. You know I could have cast my eyes on all sorts of less than acceptable acts I'm sure you committed," Shinryu pointed out, his tone and speech having not changed in the slightest, which only made Shin smile. It was just his style after all. They sat there for a few moments when Shinryu simply said: "So, marriage, huh?"

"Yeah… I can't really get my head around it myself," the closest thing to a son it was possible for Shinryu to have told him as he lay his head back on the chair.

"You aren't getting any seconds thoughts, are you?" Shinryu asked, his expression stiffening for just a moment before chuckling back to normal. With a smile, he added: "As if you were even able to have any coherent thought that didn't involve, or begin to involve, that girl,"

"You know, you've really only acted as that clingy dad that doesn't want to let his son marry ever since I showed you the engagement plan. Anything I'm missing?" Shin asked, more in jest than anything else, yet, he seemed to strike a nerve. "What? You brought me here to dissuade me or something?" Shinryu shook his head and pointed downwards.

"I just called you in for a game," The small table was housing a small chess table, something Shin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at. Shinryu and him had never played chess, or any game really, as that'd be awfully redundant. They were inside each other's head, there was no way for them to outsmart each other. "Something the matter? I know how to play, I'm more than certain you know how to because of it,"

Shin still felt it was strange that he had wanted to test his skills against, for all intents and purposes, himself, yet, this was not the first time Shinryu had done something strange to teach him about something important.

"Knight to B-3," Shin simply said, moving his white piece first, as the rules dictated.

"Aggressive as always, aren't we? Pawn to C-6," Shinryu commenced, Shin wondering just what he hoped to accomplish with all of this.

The chess match continued for quite a few plays with none of them letting up at any play. It was, as Shin predicted, a very slow match that did not seem to even be able to conceive an ending for any side, their minds knowing exactly what to do against each other, yet also knowing how to counter what the other was about to do.

"Shin, can I ask you something?" Shinryu suddenly broke out in the middle of the match, just when the match was beginning to reach a boiling point. "Check, by the way," he pointed out, his bishop standing three diagonal squares away from Shin's king.

"You finally got to it? Okay, shoot," Shin told him, thinking of what to do next. "King to E-3," he added, his hands moving the King to the protection of the Queen and Rook.

"What are you going to do from now on?" Shinryu said, surprising Shin, not with what he asked, but how he had completely disregarded it. "Your mind tells me you didn't,"

"Well, it's just… the marriage kinda took away much of my attention. That and Terra would work herself to death if I wasn't there to distract her from time to time," Shin excused, knowing full well that he still had made a major miscalculation in all of this. It was true that they had more than a few friends in high places, and if they truly wanted, no one in their right mind would deny them a life of luxury after what they had achieved for the world. However, if there had been one conversation they had shared about their future after the wedding, it was that they wished the most normal of lives they could get after all this was said and done, after all, normalcy was everything but normal or overrated to them.

"I figured as much. I don't exactly blame you, with the world being as it is right now, it's hard to even assess what is going to be needed for your kind after all. One would think that rock would be a bit more thorough, but I digress," Shinryu added, forcing himself onto yet another aggressive position, placing his Knight on F-2. "Check,"

He did speak the truth in that however. Shin nodded knowing that, right now, humanity was in a weird spot. Population was at an all-time low, however its density was pretty much the same, as humans had just taken to living on barely more than a dozen of cities instead of thousands there had once been. Because of that, people weren't going to be picky, one would not exactly need to spend fifteen years at a school to prove he could work at a certain job, he just needed to prove he could with practical cases. Shin's innately insane memory pool would basically grant him a lot of jobs outright.

That said, he had no idea what to go with. And this was a pretty major decision of his own, one of the largest and most important in his life, as a job was something he'd have to live with for the next fifty plus years, leaving the question of just what was his lifespan aside.

"I've only been here for the last year or so, deciding what life I want to embark on this early is a bit challenging," Shin said, his eyes seeing an opening that he believed Shinryu to have disregarded for a moment. It seemed too good to be true. He'd have thought this game would just end in an infinite stalemate where, at best, both kings were the last piece standing and then they'd infinitely run away from each other, leaving them to declare it a tie. That is, well, what you'd think when two people shared a mind, wasn't it? However, as his hand drifted towards his piece, taking the queen and moving it horizontally, Shinryu said the most unnerving of things.

"Don't stress yourself too much now. Just the ramblings of someone who doesn't want to leave without seeing his life's work safe," Shinryu said, almost fatherly for the first time in a long time. Shin froze mid play, looking at the dragon in man's clothing in front of him. Had this been the reason for him vanishing all this time? "What, did I scare you there? I'm not about to let you live in complete peace just about yet. I still have something else to look forward too after your wedding…" Shinryu trailed off at that moment, Shin understanding that he did not want to press it more now. He was already grateful he had gone the distance and confirmed there were going to be no farewells in his wedding. That was the last thing he'd need in the celebration or in his life.

"Queen to F-2. Check… mate?!" Shin said, still not believing it had worked, not believing his eyes. Shinryu's King was positioned at F-8, completely open for the Queen to attack, yet, there was no escape possible at this point. E-8 was taken by his bishop, E-7 was in the range of Shin's Knight at C-6. F-7 was redundant, and G-7 and 8 were just in range of Shin's Rook at G-1. In short, Shin had trapped Shinryu completely. Shin had known of the value of any F square for the Queen had for a long time now, and had been trying to secure a safe entrance for it for the past ten turns. There was no way Shinryu had not seen this… was there? The only thing he could be sure was that Shinryu was laughing, genuinely brimming with happiness.

"It finally happened, hasn't it?" Shinryu said, yet barely containing his laughter. Shin finally understood why Shinryu had called him here. What purpose this whole game had played. "Saw it too, didn't you? I'm not able to see through you anymore. Yet you can see through me. For the first time, we aren't a we, we are simply you," Shin could not stop himself from biting down on his own teeth at this realization. They had both known this was going to happen someday, he had simply forgotten, or chosen to forget. Eventually, Shinryu would vanish into himself and he'd just be Shin, his own soul not split into pieces anymore. The fact that Shinryu had so little left that he was not even able to see into Shin's side was only a testament of how close that moment was.

"Why are you laughing?" Shin said, not understanding just what was so... enjoyable about this. For him, it was devastating. To finally feel the consequences of what his existence even entailed. He existed because another being had to vanish. How could said being find so much happiness in it?

"Why wouldn't I be?" Shinryu asked, dispelling the chess table and laying back on his chair. "I lived long enough to fix my mistakes, and now I get to see my child find himself a wife and maybe even start a family. What more could a father want?"

Father. Shinryu had been referred to as such a lot, he had acted much like one a lot of times, and he was technically Shin's parent. Yet not one time. Not. One. Time. Had he ever referred to himself as one. And Shin had no idea how to take it. His self-named father noticed this easily, leaning him towards him and simply laying one hand on Shin's shoulder, continuing his speech as Shin swallowed dry, visibly holding back a lone couple of tears.

"But I didn't call you here just to confirm this. I just thought it'd be as good a time as any to do it. No, what I called you here for, today, was for two things. Far more important than testing something I already knew. First things first though. Shin, I know that I'm not exactly in the right of even talking about this, but I'm going to do it anyway, for whatever is worth. I just want to give you, well, you two, my blessing," now this was just bizarre for Shin. For that person to suddenly act like this, he just didn't see what prompted such a change. "You called me a father for who knows how long now, and truth is, looking back on what we've been through and how you came to be… I think I really should have been acting like one. Won't try to excuse myself, just, better late than never, right?"

"I… well… I don't know what to say…" Shin stuttered, his mind having way too much to process at one moment. Internalizing Shinryu's view on his role was hard enough, but how do you respond when your supposed father gives you his blessings for a wedding?

"I wouldn't say anything just yet. Because, for all I've said now, I still want to ask a favor of you. Accepting would be more than enough for me," Shinryu said, Shin nodding back, earnestly wanting to hear what would make Shinryu so cautious asking. "After you go to sleep tonight, just this last time, can I take control of your body?"

"You… really thought you needed to ask that?" Shin asked with a smile that bordered on the smirk. "If you ever feel like you need to do it, just do. This is your body as much as it is mine, no matter how much you try to make it look otherwise,"

"You're as stubborn as ever, aren't you?" Shinryu said, smirking. Shin returned the look, adding:

"You made me this way," with that, Shinryu seemed to have enough of talking, or at least had run out of time, as Shin's vision began to blur, distinct voices breaking through his dream, calling for him.

"Shin! Dinner's ready!"

"C'mon Grandpa Shin! Get up!"

"Gotta go…" Shin told Shinryu, who nodded back to him, yet expected everything but having the young man close the gap between the two and, for the first time, wrap his arms around his torso. "See ya tomorrow, dad," Shin finished as he woke up from his dream, leaving Shinryu behind to ponder on what had just happened.

"Huh, it's not half as bad as I thought it'd be…"

* * *

By the time Shin woke up, Katarin and Leo were already over him, shaking him vigorously to wake him from his slumber. Once he had broken free of Shinryu's realm, it was just a matter of seconds until he jumped up from the couch, landing on his feet right next to the door to the dining room.

"Shall we?" Shin asked with renewed confidence and optimism. Shinryu had just given him the courage he needed to do what he needed to do. Seeing Leo applaud his stunt in all of his toddler glee only made him more wanting of it all.

"You're one to talk, you're the one that kept us waiting," Katarin replied, shaking her head while she shrugged. If there was something she believed in, is that all men were the same for certain things, Shin and Duane acting exactly the same when it came to situations like this only further proved her point.

Katarin-cooked dinner had become the staple in the Branford household, mostly due to how Terra, for all her capability to cook a certain set of dishes, amazingly might Shin add, the moment she deviated from what had been engraved in her muscle memory there were… less then tasty results. Cycling between Katarin, Terra and sometimes even Shin had become the way things worked.

The dinner itself had just been what Shin was used to by now. Simple, yet undeniably tasty. The meal had also been relatively calm, which Duane felt to be actually pretty strange. Shin had asked him to come to dinner specifically, but he figured Shin had simply decided to wait until the end of it. He was partially right. That had been his mother's fiancé's rationalization of it after being unable to even begin the conversation during dinner.

Of course, as one would expect, dinner's end came way too fast for Shin's tastes, all the courage that he thought he had gained from talking to Shinryu taking a backseat to all the worst scenarios that could come from this conversation. However, just as Katarin was going to stand to wash the dishes, he knew this was his last chance.

"Katarin… could you stay here for a bit?" he asked, the teenager raising an eyebrow, but complying as soon as he saw the solemn expression on Shin's face. By this point, Duane understood that whatever Shin wanted to discuss was about to happen, and not even the six year old Ana, the youngest of the orphans, was unaware that something important was about to get talked over.

Shin took a deep breath and looked around at the curious and sometimes worried eyes of the kids looking over him. To tell the truth, he'd rather avoid this talk, the rift it could create or simply show between him and the kids was just too much to risk, to shove the kids away was to shove Terra away, or at least cut off a grand part of what made her happy. However, Shin was not able to consider marrying Terra, spending the rest of his and her life together, leaving this unresolved. So, before all of them, Shin took his hands to the table, bowed his head, and calmly explained:

"I just want to apologize for stealing your mother away..." he said, not meeting the eyes of any of the children. He knew they felt that way. There had been too many times he had caught them eyeing Terra disheartened as she was leaving the house with him, or even when she spent time with him inside it. Terra didn't seem to notice, but Shin knew that the kids were making an effort to bottle it up inside for her.

There were many responses Shin had imagined. From steep silence, to morning words, to even all the feelings they had bottled up inside exploding in righteous fury. He did not expect a collective laughter to come from everyone around him.

"You're a scaredy cat Shin!" Ana exclaimed, pointing her finger at him and jumping around his chair. Shin didn't know what she meant by it, meaning he didn't know if he should feel relieved or threatened. That is, until Katarin took to the scene. "But that's good! I win!"

"All of us made a bet to see if or how long it'd take for you to talk to us about this. She bet that you'd take up until the last moment," Katarin explained, Shin feeling even guiltier than he had felt through these past months. They not only were aware he knew, they were probably begging for him to bring it up, and yet, here he was, only doing it because of how his moral compass had stopped him from marrying their mother without so much as acknowledging the problem.

"I'm so sorry for taking this long…" Shin said, raising his head to meet the surprisingly cheerful eyes of the rest of the orphans.

"But you did, and before getting married too! That's what matters!" Katarin exclaimed, traversing to his side of the table and giving him a great big hug. By this point, the poor man was completely without direction about how the conversation was going.

"Shin, the way you brought it up, it's obvious you think this is some kind of cruel blow you are dealing to us, or that we were sad by having our Mama marry but… it's nothing like that," Duane said, for the first time shinning some, if little, light on Shinryu's view of the conversation. "We're everything but sad. We couldn't happier!"

"But… the way you all looked at us…"Shin began, looking around to see nothing but smiling faces.

"We do get jealous sometimes… I mean, Mama was just our Mama before. But she's happy when she's with you! And you also like us! Why wouldn't we like you?" The middle child of the entire orphan group, a girl named Nia exclaimed, talking for the rest of the orphans if their smiling nods came with her.

"It was strange at first, but then we understood that, while we had to share Mama with you, you had to share Mama with us too," Katarin pointed out, to which Shin couldn't help but give validity. There weren't just a few times where his plans for a date with the girl had been interrupted by a need of the large cast of boys and girls he and her had to take care of.

"That and… Katarin told me not to call you this until tomorrow, but you're our Papa now!" Nia exclaimed, the ten year old latching onto the arm of the older man, who froze in place.

"Nia! What did we say? Wait for them to get married!" Duane admonished, receiving a pouty lip from the ten year old. Shin was worried with something else.

"You all, think the same?" he gasped, his heart nearly exploding once he saw the host of children and teens nodding back at him. "But-"

"You couldn't steal Mama away even if you tried," Duane began, again, another fair point. The moment Shin forced her into an ultimatum would be the moment she knew he wasn't worth marrying. "And you take care of us with almost as much attention and love as she does. No one asked you to, not even Mama, but you do. And even then, you came to us begging to be forgiven. What kind of kids do you think we are? Someone that makes Mama happy and tries his best to make us feel the same way is nothing short than a Papa to all of us,"

At this point, Shin was visibly holding back tears. This was just too much for him. He had come here to make sure they could put up with him, not to ask them to think of him as… as a father. He didn't feel any regrets of second think the notion of being these kids' parent, if anything, he thought that he wasn't worth this kind of praise. The moment that every single child in front of him got up to hold him in an embrace, he was too overwhelmed not to cry. They didn't need to say any words, they all knew how they felt.

Like a family.

* * *

Terra had taken a long time to come home. A lot longer than she had first had said to take, arriving just past midnight. By that point, Shin had already been used and abused by the orphans for their own gains, taking advantage of the sweet words they had given the young man to having do everything they wanted. As a result, Shin wanted nothing more than to just take Terra and go to sleep.

"Terra, you're home!" Shin exclaimed, leaving Leo to his own devices and rushing out of the living room, intent on greeting his soon-to-be-wife at the door. Only to have a swift shadow take him and knock him back into the living room, Shin falling back first into the floor, shackles of ice holding his arms and legs in place by the ankles and wrists.

For a few moments, Shin though they were being attacked, that one of those discriminatory bastards that never stopped demeaning Terra had finally taken to doing something, then he saw that standing atop him was not some faceless thug, but Celes, and her burning eyes instantly clued him into understanding that he had done something wrong. What? That he had no idea.

"Hey Celes, isn't that a bit excessive?" Locke said from the entrance to the living room. Receiving the same look, he completely shut up.

"Locke, just stay there and block the view. This idiot still didn't understand what he was about to do!" Celes exclaimed, returning to stare down Shin.

"Don't hurt him Celes, okay?" Shin heard the slightly scared voice of Terra say, moments passing as the sound of the stairs being climbed caused Shin to finally demand answers.

"What's this about Celes? Why can't I see my fiancé?! Did something happen to her?" Shin was a mix of worry and anger at this point. If there was something wrong with Terra, why didn't they let him see her? And if the opposite was true, the same question applied!

"Shin… it's past midnight," Locke pointed out, Shin raising an eyebrow.

"So what?" he asked, visibly calmer now that Locke had stepped in. Not for long.

"So… what?!" Celes exclaimed, picking him up by the collar and throwing him into the couch. "The groom can't see the bride in the day of the wedding, that's "what"!" Celes exclaimed, her eyes burning in zealotry. Shin felt like he had just argued that genocide was normal when faced with such vigor and will.

"That's just an old belief, it's not going to hurt anyone if I see her just on-"Celes had taken her sword out. Shin stopped talking immediately.

"I promised Terra a perfect wedding, hell, I promised her a wedding that'd make fairy tale princesses jealous! If you step out of line ONCE, I'll slice one _them _off! You're lucky Terra wants kids," Shin was too busy being scared half to death than pondering the irony that was Celes showing more care about tradition than him. To tell the truth, Shin had made the same commitment with himself and even agreed with Celes, he'd just not known that not seeing the bride the day of the wedding part of it meant he couldn't even see her past midnight.

"Yeah, sorry, it slipped my mind… wait a second, does that mean that-"Shin exclaimed, a grim realization coming to mind.

"I brought a blanket for you," Locke said with an understanding smile, laying it down on the couch Shin was in. "You get couch duty for today," he told Shin, who just sighed in return. There was no arguing with Celes and this point, and he did want to give Terra the best day of her life, and that day had started ten minutes past, so there was no backtalk from Shin.

"Good that we are in agreement. Now, get some rest, you have much to do tomorrow," Celes told him, her tone having mellowed out extremely so when she saw the gears in Shin's finally kicking into rhythm. "Best of luck for tomorrow Shin, you'll need it,"

"I'm already the luckiest guy on the universe, I can spare a bit more luck," Shin replied, the cheese fest in the response being too much for Celes to hold her chuckle in. For once, she condoned his attitude, it was clear that this was what made Terra happy, who was she to say anything against it?

With that, Locke and Celes left, having their own preparations to get into play. Shin himself had done everything he could do for today, he was completely at peace with himself now, only wishing he could spend this last night with his fiancé, but he knew that he and Celes had promised each other to make this as close to the perfect wedding as possible, and that included respecting tradition up until the knot was tied at least. For the first time in days, Shin fell into a deep, comforting sleep.

* * *

It didn't take long for there to be a knocking on Terra's bedroom. The girl yipped of surprise before answering from the inside of the closed door:

"Shin, is that you?" she asked, her voice tied in a bit of confusion. Why would Shin want to come in now? Had he forgotten?

"Well, it depends on how you see it madam," the tone, choice of words and even his voice all were more than enough to make Terra understand just who it was.

"Come on in Shinryu," she said with a bit of relief. She wouldn't be mad at Shin for trying to come in, but she did feel a bit better that he was doing what Celes said he had promised to do.

"Afraid I can't do that. This is still your fiancé's body. Laying eyes on you would be breaking the deal, wouldn't it?" Shinryu contemplated from the other side of the door, smiling all the way through.

"It's just a silly superstition," Terra replied. Truth be told, she did believe in what she said, but…

"It's not about the superstition, it's about the magic," Shinryu completed her thoughts, taking notes on how easy it was to toy with the girl when he wanted.

"Okay, fine, be that way. Is there something you want to talk about?" Terra asked, she sounded tired, Shinryu deduced Celes hadn't been kind to her stamina on such a day, so he went straight to the point.

"Terra, I already talked with Shin about this. I decided, for whatever time is left for me, I'd better act like what I am to Shin, his father. And what kind of parent would I be if I did not come to the woman that is about to give up her own life to start a new one with my son and give her my blessings?" he questioned, chuckling to himself. It was much easier the second time around.

"Shinryu…" Terra whispered, barely audibly from the other side of the door. Shinryu knew she was on the other side of the door, all the more reason not to open it.

"What I mean to say is… Terra, take care of my son," Shinryu finished, deciding to not tardy along with this. There was not much he could say to her now. It had all already been said.

"I will Shinryu, on my word," Terra assured, her tone unshaken and truthful. Shinryu laughed.

"I don't doubt it but… you'd better tell him tomorrow," Shinryu said, destabilizing Terra. "What you were really doing today I mean,"

"How did you…"

"Unlike my son, I'm not blind," Shinryu said, returning to the couch and returning the control of the body to his son, following his example into slumber.

* * *

The very next day, Shin had awoken to find a pretty much deserted house around him. He had expected as much, Terra had probably been whisked away by Celes to have her bridesmaid prepare her for the wedding. If Shin had to guess, Locke had taken to preparing the kids for the wedding, leaving him with one less groomsmen, Cloud had said he'd go ahead and help out the guests. Considering the other was Edge, who apparently lived without knowing what a watch was, that mostly meant that the one groomsmen he had left was…

"You'd think the groom would be more spiced up on the big day!" Zack exclaimed as he left the kitchen with a sandwich. Shin sighed. His Best Man was the only person to help him get ready.

Shin was not making it in time. Not on this lifetime.

"Seriously, how does anyone put these things on?!" Zack exclaimed, flustered that he couldn't even get Shin's bowtie straight as he had been asked to. Getting in the tuxedo had apparently been laborious enough for Zack, helping someone else getting into their wedding suit had been particularly tardy.

It didn't help that Zack had left Shin to sleep in an hour longer than he was supposed to, so even if he managed to go at a decent pace, they were still being screwed.

"Just let me!" Shin exclaimed, taking matters into his own hands and straightening the bowtie himself. At first he had planned to use the normal plan of simply renting a tuxedo, but that had quickly been shot down by Celes, who had decided his clothing choice for him, knowing exactly how, as a man, he'd take the easy way out on it.

As he started to put on the final adjustments for his suit, something passed by his mind. It wasn't something that he prioritized, but he still thought it was a good time to ask Zack about.

"So, Zack, what're you going to do for a living?" he asked Zack, who was tying up his own tie after having it nearly thorn off due to the constant itching it gave him.

"Me? Well, that's easy. I'm in deep for a lifetime contract with SOLDIER. Rufus is turning Shinra around little by little, so there's no reason for me to tell them to go screw themselves anymore," Zack explained bluntly, finally winning his death match with his tie. "What, don't tell me you having doubts about what you want to do, are you?" Shin rolled his eyes but nodded, he thought that'd be quite obvious. "Well, here's a piece of advice for free! You have a lot of things going for you, so maybe you'd try your hand at something that you enjoy doing and that only you can do!"

The advice was simple but it did strike a nerve in Shin's brain. It wasn't something that he'd mule over today, there were things far more important for him to go attend to, but he had to hand it to Zack, he could be genuinely helpful once in a blue moon!

"Will give it a try. But now, it's time for me to get married! Pass me the coat Zack!" he exclaimed, Zack complying and throwing him the requested item. With it on Shin was ready to take on the wedding head first.

The wedding suit Celes had prepared him was, as expected for a man's celebration code of dressing, quite simple. It was white in color, something that Celes had insisted on due to her being fixated on making this wedding a "white wedding", whatever that meant for her. It consisted on a pair of simple ballroom shoes, pure white trousers, a white undershirt, a beige vest separating it from the matching white coat that cut into a V-shaped tail at the end of it. The aforementioned beige bowtie was straightened one last time as Shin prepared to take his leave.

"It's finally time," Shin said, taking a deep breath before shaking his head and heading down the stairs.

* * *

**Post-Author's Note:** Well, here we have it. I know this may have felt like, essentially a giant teaser, and I won't deny that it really kinda is, but I just felt that since Terra was given a chapter to deal with her insecurities before the wedding, Shin deserved one too. Especially because they could bog down the wedding if they were to be resolved in the wedding itself. Again, if you felt like this had too little content or you'd have preferred to have the wedding being in tandem with this part, I'm sorry, but I'll do my best to round up everything as perfectly as I can for you all.

I really hope this chapter tides you over until Sunday at least! And I do thoroughly hope you enjoyed it. Until then, sayonara!

**PS:** Any of you could spot what was Terra's secret? Or at least guess?


	3. Forever! Part 2: Mother

**Author's Note:** So, it's finally here. The moment of truth… I don't think my body is ready to drop this, but I shall trust Reggie that it is. For those that don't understand the scope of this, this is the pinnacle of the last three and a half years of work. It all lead up to this… it's not the end, far from it, but I do hope I hit a note with this chapter. I have nothing else to say, it's time for do or die!

**PS:** Not sure if I made it in time for your time zone, but this chapter's release date serves as a birthday present to Haos… I'll just treat you as that considering how big your Penname is. So yeah, even if it is belated, Happy Birthday once again!

**PSS:** Fun fact for the ones that read fics where I insert music. This chapter was written in its entirety while listening to "Namida no Tane, Egao no Hana". So, if you want to pull a Normalcy, go ahead and listen to it as you read… well at least after the altar.

* * *

**An Undying Sentiment**

**Chapter Three**

**Forever! **Part 2:****

**Mother**

* * *

"You seriously brought no car, hell, even your motorbike?" Shin admonished of Zack, who shrugged it off quite easily.

"Cloud dropped me off here. He went ahead to help everyone at the church get organized," Zack explained, shrugging his arms. "I mean, c'mon, the church is barely more than a few kilometers away! Let's walk, it's good for your health," Zack was right in one thing, the church they were using for the matrimony was, indeed, very close to Mobliz. In fact, it was built on a hill overlooking the town, mostly for its privileged view, the small lake nearby and the lush green fields that surrounded it, somewhere Shin and Terra had found it perfect to have a nice, outdoors reception.

"It's not a matter of our health or style! We're half an hour late already!" Shin exclaimed, looking at his watch in anger. It was already twelve thirty, the wedding had been scheduled to be at midday sharp, which meant they couldn't afford to waste time walking. Stardust was out of possibility, Shin was sure Terra had taken the Gold Chocobo with her. He'd need a miracle to get there on a decent hour.

And, with a glimmer of light and the sound of time and space bending, the hope basically materialized in front of him.

"Okay, so are THESE the right coordinates?!" he heard a very familiar voice exclaimed, exasperation reeking in the tone.

"Look, it's not my fault that Shin has an awful memory when it comes to the year it happened!" another one, much more defensive one, exclaimed. It was by that time that the cockpit to the ship opened and out popped the familiar sight of the blue haired future changer.

"Serge!" Shin exclaimed, waving his hand at the ones in the Epoch.

"Guess Layle got it right for once," Serge said, his choice in attired making it clear he was in here for the wedding.

"You actually came," Shin said from bellow. He had actually told Serge that, if him and Terra were to ever marry, he'd enjoy it if Serge would take the entire crew on a ride on the Epoch through time just to see them. As he expected it, everyone was there, from Serge and his wife, Layle and his own love interest, Ramza and his sister Alma, even Aya had tagged along.

"I did say I'd come. You can thank your thirty year old self for us having to jump through five different years to find out which year you actually married though," Serge explained, the dissent between the voices of Kid and Layle suddenly making more than sense.

However, there was something else going through Shin's mind right now. Something related to the machine right in front of him.

"Say, Serge, those wings still work?"

* * *

"It's been forty minutes already! Why aren't either of them here yet?!" Luneth huffed and puffed from his seat on the church. Cloud had come and told everyone to sit down and prepare for the arrival of the groom… almost two hours ago.

"It's about the magic Luneth! The groom is always late, and the bride arrives just when everyone is about to question whether she's coming or not!" Refia said whimsically, having a rare full girly moment that even caught Luneth off guard. Still, he knew the truth.

"Refia, its Zack and Shin. Shin probably overslept and I'm sure Zack did more harm than good!" Luneth exclaimed, the now bordering two years of knowing the duo making what had happened painfully obvious.

"Why am I not surprised?" Lightning said, arms crossed and patience thinning. Firion had made her swear she wouldn't make a scene, but she was starting to question the value of her word against the value of giving them a piece of her mind.

Fortunately for everyone present, Cloud, who was the only one of the groomsmen actually giving a crap, Locke being busy with keeping the kids entertained and Edge… well, he's Edge, he wasn't even here yet, still, Cloud spotted something as he paced around the entrance.

"Can't they be normal even for a wedding?" he sighed, moments later Shin and Zack landed right in front of him on one knee, the Epoch landing in front of the chapel moments later.

"Kept you waiting, huh?" Zack mocked, only to be promptly slapped across the back of the head by both of his best friends.

"Sorry for the wait Cloud, Zack forgot to wake me up on time," Shin told the blonde groomsmen, who looked back at him with a look that didn't spare even him, the groom, from criticism.

"How many alarms did you turn off to keep sleeping?" he asked, catching Shin completely red-handed.

"Tw-Okay, five!" Shin exclaimed, excusing himself with the fact that, for once, a peaceful sleep before a stressful day had not paid off as well as he'd hoped.

"Well, the main actress isn't here yet, so go ahead and meet the priest, the rest of the guests are used to waiting by now," Cloud told Shin, taking Zack with him in the effort of doing their job and taking Crono's group to their rightful place.

Shin at first took a moment to see the church where it would all take place. It wasn't a gran cathedral like the ones he could, most likely, have found and requested, it was just a small, quaint church that he and everyone else in Mobliz had built with their own sweat and tears over the course of this year and a half, albeit very much aided by Lunarian technology to speed things up. Regardless, the church didn't seem the least bit futuristic at all, and was just big enough to take in the quite big repertoire of friends that Shin and Terra had gathered throughout their fantastical adventures, albeit a bit bigger would've helped as the church was especially chocked full of guests today.

Deciding to enter, Shin found that the church seemed to be especially beautiful this day, with all the tapestries, statues and painted windows and ceilings seemingly overflowing with color, yet, he was sure that this was just his state of mind and soul. He was euphoric, but at the same time, each step he took in the direction of the altar, each head that rolled and wished him good luck, and especially Lightning's death glare, all of those clearly made his confidence plummet into a complete mess of insecurity and shivers by the time he arrived at the consecrated altar.

To put it into layman terms, Shin wasn't afraid of what was to come from the wedding, he was deathly afraid of screwing up. Which, in his mind, was rationalized as just making him more prone to screwing up, which haunted him to no end. What saved him, was, strangely, the priest.

"I presume you to be the groom?" the priest asked Shin, taking his mind out of the mess it was in. It instead turned to the priest. They had not found a qualified priest by themselves, having had to depend on Aerith, who said she had known one that visited her church from time to time, even exchanged contact with her. Shin assumed him to be this man, yet, there was something oddly familiar about the holy man in straight brown hair and matching eyes.

"I am. Shin Verus, pleasure to meet you," Shin said, introducing himself a handshake. "We haven't met, have we?" he asked, just to be sure. He didn't know if he did remember him from maybe one of Shinryu's memories, maybe it was just Déjà vu, or something else.

"I wouldn't believe so. My name is Thelav Drazel, I'm a friend of Aerith's. However, I am overjoyed to oversee the holy union of a goddess among men like Terra Branford," no matter what suspicion Shin had of him, he had touched the right button to gain his trust. Talk well about his soon-to-be-wife. That and, Shin was sure he was being honest, his tone didn't betray him for one moment, he really looked to mean everything he said. "Now, shall we take a look over the ceremony?"

"Might as well…" Shin replied, understanding that the man saw through his nerves and was both giving a way to focus on another thing and well, give him a crutch for him to stand on during the ceremony.

However, there was a basic, somewhat hilarious problem for everyone in the audience, well, Shin less so. Shin's nerves were so obvious to everyone that it got to the point where they were obstructing his brain from engaging in any kind of memory making, meaning that everything the Priest tried to tell him didn't even get into one ear, much less come out the other. Even the priest, by this point, had a not-so-hidden smile of amusement in his young expression.

"Hey, are you okay?" Edge said, finally appearing just by Shin's side, jolting him back into position. He had just ninja'd his way there, it was to be expected.

"I'm okay? How are you here THIS late? Do you have any idea what time it is?!" Shin exclaimed, the stress he was in flooding out in a rant towards one of his groomsmen, who seemed to take it pretty well. Out of everyone there, Edge was probably the one that understood Shin best, having married not even a year ago after, let's face it, a twenty-year-long courtship. While Rydia had been more than fine, almost relieved, Edge was forced to bring Cuore by his side to the stage to keep him from screwing up. He still did… but it could have been worse.

"Shin, I was late because I needed to bring Rydia and the others with me. I think you know what that means," Edge told him, for once his tone being completely serious. Shin's heart stopped pumping blood. Rydia was one of the bridesmaids, meaning… "Look, Shin, get it together. It's alright when I do it, screwing up is what I do, but not you… well, maybe you, but not at this point. Rydia knew I was going to be a disaster at the wedding, but you have no idea how happy and nervous Terra is, I don't think she can take a screw up at this point,"

"_Wow Edge, way to get the pressure out of my shoulders," _Shin told himself sarcastically, simply nodding back at the Ninja King whilst his mind was all over the place. With that said, Edge brought himself to the front seat of the right wing of the church, sitting down by Cloud and Locke. Zack and Celes had agreed on standing by the groom and bride. Albeit Shin was not sure just why Celes would want that. Or at least hoped that it was not for the fact that he imagined it to be.

That being said, the husband-to-be understood that time was running out on him and he had to get himself composed a fast as he could. Rydia, Aerith and Aqua had conspicuously found a seat on the left wing of the church… and if they were here that meant that, yes, Shin's head found Celes' stern, yet calm expression facing him. There was no aggression towards him, Celes had already left that behind, however, the way she nodded was more akin to her begging Shin to not mess this up. And he knew just how much was at stake here. Far more than just his pseudo-reputation. However, all of that stopped once Celes' eyes moved to the left, signaling Shin to look towards the door. As he turned his head, he saw that everyone was already looking towards the entrance.

It was time.

Shin's heart dropped once he first saw Terra walking down the hallway. Like many souls that thought they were prepared for the sight of their soon-to-be-wife walking down the hallway, he was gravely mistaken. While the beauty of the woman in front of him was something he saw, it was worth mentioning that the entire church had held their breath once they witnessed the bride. Only Celes had remained the same, silently congratulating herself for a job well done.

Her wedding dress was a long, ballroom styled dressed, pink of a slightly light hue coloring the fabric. It covered her entire body until around her upper chest area, where it cut almost diagonally towards her neck, leaving her shoulders and part of her arm bare. When the fabric reached the neck, it intersected a golden chocker complete with a large, semi-spherical violet gem hanging down her neck while smaller teardrop shaped gens hanged around the chocker and served as earrings, before finishing in a collar that ended just halfway through her neck. Her hands were clad in long, thin gloves of the same fabric and color, the garments ending a small way past her elbow into a frilled finish. As she stepped forward, one could notice the purely white sandals that she was wearing, their laces trailing upwards on Terra's ankles and legs. Finally, beneath the white veil that covered her still hidden face, her hair was tied into a small bun that reminisced of her hairstyle during her and Shin's first date, a fitting tribute.

By the time Shin had finished admiring the dress, she was already halfway through the long hallway. Let alone him registering that Duane and Katarin were both walking their adopted mother to the altar. It was the best possible gesture Terra could make, as she possessed no living blood relatives, but it was also a completely natural one, as no one would say Duane and Katarin were anything less than family to her at this point. The duo looked positively radiant as well as they walked their mother to what could be the happiest moment in her life.

Shin's life, one that was both small and immense, all flashed upon his eyes for the third time now, this time he was not facing death though, one could not imagine how contrary to death this situation is. Gargantuan effort was necessary for Shin to not just jump from the altar and run up to her… or the opposite direction. In short, Shin's nerves were haywire. Not only that, but he must have been staring a whole lot, as Terra did have a faint blush across her cheeks, albeit accompanied by a small smile.

By the time she had arrived at the altar, everyone had stopped the gasping and gawking, instead sitting straight and waiting for the marriage to truly start, creating the most awkward silence Shin had been a part of the past year. However, there was still something he needed to say before this all started:

"You look… perfect," Shin had been born cheesy, lived cheesy, he wouldn't put down the Camembert just for the wedding, it'd feel inappropriate and a waste of perfectly good cheese. Plus, it'd be bad form to not tell Terra just how good the dress that Celes had probably forced her to spend weeks picking or making looked. He did doubt that Celes had been the one picking it though, as a light pink wedding dress was something very Terra to pick, and that made it all the better.

"Please, I'm lactose intolerant by now," Terra joked meekly, trying to take Shin's eyes from her now completely flushed expression, before returning the favor: "You too went above and beyond, didn't you? You're more handsome than ever," Shin took this as you'd expect. He nearly melted on the spot.

"Ahem!" the priest coughed, signaling that it was about time the soon-to-be-married duo stopped verbally making out, at least until the ceremony was done. Terra and Shin looked back at him and nodded, they were as ready as they would probably ever be.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, in the sight of our grand God and this company, to witness and celebrate one of life's greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love, and to add our best wishes and blessings to the union of Terra Branford and Shin Verus," it was starting, Terra held her hands together in front of her waist, looking up toward Shin, who looked downward with a smile.

"Now, I may not be the most appropriate to talk about the couple at hand, but I would be lying if their exploits have not come to me through one bird or the other," Shin cringed and slid his eye at Aerith, who took out her tongue and scratched the back of her head in a halfhearted apologizing attempt. He had hoped to skip the speech, mostly because Shin didn't take well to being flattered by strangers, and he didn't need any longer to let the nerves build up. "It is not many a time that a person is faced with a tale of grandeur. Of a love that transcended life and death, one that held together through even the end of times, one that was glorified in the beauty of the wings of God itself. However, that is not what Terra and Shin have that should stay with us forever to come," Shin noticed how even Aerith's eyebrow had raised at the mention of God, thinking that, somehow, the priest that he had had a strange déjà vu feeling off may have had something more to him, but he was too intrigued by what his speech had in store to care.

"The people before us are simply that, people. Yet, for what was the greater part of their lives, they were hated, feared, even used, all for being born with powers to which others feared. Yet, neither of them blamed or branded others as evil. Instead, they struggled to live on until they found solace… in each other. Their actions before and after are not what makes them an inspiring tale, it is the true selflessness needed to help others when you are in need of help, only to find someone just like yourself, someone you can understand and help and be understood and aided back. The miracle that is the meeting of two fitting puzzle pieces adrift in the ocean of mortality. That is the inspiration that we should take from it. That if we do not despair, if we are simply ourselves and if we believe, there will be someone to come, someone that will ease our pain and lead us into our own paradise," the last bits of the speech seemed to move the priest just as much as did the audience, the young man in front of them closing his eyes and swiftly hiding a single tear coming down his expression. "For I know myself that pleas like that do not go unanswered,"

The attendees and the wedding couple were left in silence for a few moments, as if to ponder the weight of the words just spoken. Shin couldn't help but feel a bit left out however, as in, Terra had endured everything he had all the more than he had, she deserved this wedding far more than he did. For the first time in the day, he began to second guess if the girl in front of him was really even someone that he deserved to be with. If he didn't know any better, he'd say the priest did it on purpose.

"Terra and Shin, marriage is an institution ordained of God, and it is not to be entered into lightly or unadvisedly, but reverently, deliberately, and only after much consideration, for in coming together in marriage you are committing yourselves exclusively, the one to the other, for as long as you both shall live," the priest said after the long silence, Shin's sweat drops becoming noticeable, Terra's expression showing slight hints of worry behind her solemn yet nervous expression.

"Knowing this, I ask of you this question: Do you Shin, choose to marry Terra on this day; to speak the words that will join you with her as your wife, for all the days of your life? If so, please answer: I do." The priest said, shattering all the glass around Shin's reality. This was it, the moment of truth. It had come too soon. He wasn't sure. He didn't know. His mouth barely moved. Seconds passed before he stated to utter:

"I-I…" the silence that came after it made the world around him slow down. The guests were bringing the hands to their mouths, Celes looked the opposite of what he expected, she looked downright distraught, but Terra didn't seem to falter, the way she seemed to be so sure of him, to put so much trust in him only made him doubt himself even more.

"_SHIN!"_ Shinryu's voice thundered in his head in something akin to a slap, snapping his eyes back from the glazed daze. _"Don't you dare do this to the girl! This is her one shot at happiness, and yours too, for both your sakes, you know the answer! She __**chose**__ to be with you, never forget that!"_

Shin took a deep breath, with the air coming from his body expelling all sorts of doubts and insecurities. He needed that. His entire life had been spent with her at his side, and if she were to tolerate him for the rest of her's, there was nothing else he could ask for.

"I do." He said with no doubts or stress clouding him anymore. His mind had gone from a brewing storm to a clear blue sky. What impressed him was that Terra, even after those more than ten seconds of hesitation, didn't seem the least bit estranged or angry. If anything, her warm smile only told him that she was just happy that he had worked through his doubts.

"That is good. For a moment, I'd have thought you were not up to the task. Now, without further ado. Do you Terra, choose to marry Shin on this day; to speak the words that will join you with him as your husband, for all the days of your life? If so, please answer: I do," the priest said.

"I do." No hesitation, nothing. Terra's expression had only brightened with each moment that passed. They were really doing it. In less than a minute, they'd be one.

"Then, if you would, please turn to face one another and join hands as you each take your marital vows." The priest told both, taking a step back and allowing the couple some space. Terra and Shin didn't need any time to think about things anymore. They instantly and gently cradled each other's hands, both being both surprised and happy to see that the other's hands were not shaking or wavering one bit.

"Beginning with you, Shin: Do you, Shin Verus, take Terra Branford, to be your lawfully wedded wife; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, or for worse, for richer, or for poorer, in sickness, and in health? With respect for her integrity and faith in your union, do you promise to unfailingly seek out the best you can in her, loving her every day, in every way, until the end of your forever? If so, please answer: I do," at this point, Shin wasn't even phased by the speech. There was nothing to question, nothing left to waver about.

"I do." He answered determinedly, a glint of pride coming from the audience and especially Celes after all that debacle. Terra's hands trembled a bit at the words, not out of nervousness, but out of bliss.

"And now you, Terra: Do you, Terra Branford, take Shin Verus, to be your lawfully wedded husband; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, or for worse, for richer, or for poorer, in sickness, and in health? With respect for his integrity and faith in your union, do you promise to unfailingly seek out the best you can in him, loving him every day, in every way, until the end of your forever? If so, please answer: I do." This was the last answer. The last set of words that they had to speak to be bounded. It all started and it would all end with Terra. And…

"I do." With no hesitation, it did. The cathedral half-breathed of relief as two boys started to walk down the aisle, their time coming soon.

The priest smirked and nodded: "Then, what tokens of love and respect do you offer each other?" he asked rhetorically as the two chosen Mobliz Orphans arrived by the wedding couple. The two orphans that had been tasked with giving the rings were a boy and a girl of the same age. The one holding Terra's ring had, coincidentally, been the one to first call Shin Papa, the ten year old Nia while the boy holding Shin's ring was her best friend and, if Terra was right, her future sweetheart, a small boy by the name of Simon. On their hands they both held a pillow where the small, golden rings that symbolized all Shin and Terra ever wanted laid on them.

"The wedding ring is the outward sign of an inward and spiritual grace, signifying to all the union of this man and this woman in holy matrimony. It was Saint Minwu who said, "The nature of God is like a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere." May the rings that you hold symbolize the nature of God in your lives, and as often as either of you see them, may you be reminded of this moment and the endless love you have promised." Under any other circumstances, Shin and Terra would have questioned how this man knew of Minwu, but they weren't given the time, or cared, to question it. Taking the first ring out of Simon's hands, the priest said: "Shin, as you present Terra with her wedding ring and pledge your love and your life to her, will you please repeat after me: Terra, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. With all that I am, and all that I have, I promise to love and honor you always. With this ring, I thee wed,"

There was nothing quite like this moment. Shin had already put a ring on Terra's finger, one that had stayed to this day whenever she was able to wear it, but these rings were no mere rings, wedding rings were unbreakable bounds masked as metal circles. As the priest gave him the ring, he took one good look at Terra, trying his best to maintain his composure as he began to repeat what the priest said: "Terra, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. With all that I am, and all that I have, I promise to love and honor you always," She nodded at him and raised her hand, the groom gently taking it and carefully slipping the prized possession into her ring finger, sealing the matrimony on his end. "With this ring, I thee wed," he finished, taking a final deep breath and removing his hand from her's, leaving Terra to contemplate the ring by herself. The priest gave her a few moments before taking the other ring.

"Terra, as you present Shin with his wedding ring and pledge your love and your life to him, will you please repeat after me: Shin, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. With all that I am, and all that I have, I promise to love and honor you always. With this ring, I thee wed,"

For Terra, this was even more special. Unlike Shin, she had never had this experience, and she would never have it again. The bonding that came with giving your other something that he would wear on his finger, this one being far more important, as it'd stay with Shin forever more. She couldn't lie, she was… giddy about this. Unlike Shin, she just wanted it all to happen. For her, this was steering itself into perfection. "Shin, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. With all that I am, and all that I have, I promise to love and honor you always." She eagerly slipped the ring onto Shin's ring finger, finalizing her vows. "With this ring, I thee wed,"

The air in the hall suddenly changed. For all of its calmness, there was something different that came with both rings being put on. The ceremony was just about over, and everyone was about to explode. The tension in the air was palpable for everyone, even the priest, who took it as a sign to finish his speech:

"Shin and Terra, inasmuch as you have consented to be joined together in the holy state of matrimony, and having pledged and sealed your vows by the giving and receiving of rings in the presence of both God and this company, it is with great pleasure that I now pronounce you husband and wife. What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder," with all of that said, he prolonged the waiting for a few, slightly sadistic moments for himself, almost as if to tease the crowd. When he had his fill, he allowed it to be said: "Congratulations! You may kiss the bride."

Shin and Terra didn't waste any time in taking to each other's arms passionately, both of their wish for a perfect matrimony having been fulfilled. As they shared in the kiss, all of their memories together and all of the memories to come blessing them at that precise moment, the priest chuckled before finishing it all with:

"It is with great joy and honor that I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Shin and Terra Branford Verus!"

It was with that the crowd exploded into applause, some of the younger members even getting too ahead of themselves and jumping about in their seats, not that anyone blamed them. As soon as they broke the kiss, Celes took to Terra's side and gave her bouquet of matching pink roses and gave them a curt bow, her arm pointing towards the exit of the church. Wedding papers could be handled later, this was a time of happiness!

With that, Terra took Shin's arm and pulled it gently. They locked eyes once more and started to walk down the hallway. Terra could not believe this was happening. A couple of years ago, not even in her wildest dreams would something as fantastical as this could have happened to her. She had been content in growing old and watching over her kids, yet… thanks to this man, she had found so much else, yet lost nothing in return. True, he had his flaws and she had seen him almost doubt himself into the worst possible scenario but that was Shin. She had expected him to either break down or goof up. The fact that he managed to pull through only made her immensely honored. That he had gone so far as to give her the best day of her life. Which, at this point, it was. It could, and probably would get even better, but it was already the best day of her life.

She just needed to tell him…

But not now. Now they had finally walked out of the church, metaphorically entering a whole new world. It also came the time for Terra to do what she thought to be the most charming part of the ceremony, outside of marrying the man she loved of course!

"Throw the bouquet! Throw the bouquet!" she heard Prishe yell, knowing full well that she wasn't even going to attempt catching it. Nah, she just wanted to watch the chaos unfold. Still, she did want to adhere to the tradition, so she untangled her arm from Shin, smiled at him and closed her eyes, throwing the bouquet into the four winds.

No one knew if it was destiny or a bit of hocus-pocus from either of the blonde duo, but, as fitting as it felt, Celes took the bouquet for her own, beating out the entire crowd of young women to it. People just decided to ignore the fact that she seemed to be standing on a pile of corpses when she did.

"Well, no surprise there," Shin commented, Terra chuckling in agreement. She did kind of pity Celes for not being married already, having known and dated Locke for far longer than herself had even known of Shin, but Locke was much more of a free spirit than Shin, who seemed to want a stable home just… no, almost as much as Terra did.

"Now, onto the reception, am I right?" Zack exclaimed, pocking Shin quite heavily on the shoulder. He wasn't really questioning it as he was hurrying it up, but, being completely real, Terra was also hungry. After all, while she coped with nerves much better than Shin outwardly, she was still unable to even eat breakfast. And as we all know, a hungry Terra is a scary Terra.

"I'd very much like that too Shin," she told him with a smile that she knew he'd read as her needing the better part of the reception, the food. You see, while Prishe had actually come to witness the ceremony, that was because she was the one in charge of the cakes, and as such, had done her job far before the celebration had even taken place, which led to the rest of the cooks to be left behind, most notably Gilgamesh, who was worth three men… literally, he has six arms.

"Well, tell the others to start walking towards the lake once they are out, we're going ahead!" Shin told Zack, who went back to the rest of the crowd to warn them as the newlyweds began walking down the stairs of the church.

* * *

The reception was to be done outdoors, near Lake Avia just beside the church, one could even see the preparations from the church. The walk there with Shin however, felt everything but short for Terra. It was such a strange, novel feeling for her yet it was a completely familiar one as well. For all intents and purposes, she was not doing anything that special with Shin currently she was merely walking through a field with her arm wrapped around his, albeit she did possess a possibly overdone dress to bother her steps a bit. However, it all felt magical for her, the world around her was brighter than ever, the laughter and talk from the crowd that followed them was vivid and cheerful, she felt truly awake in her own dream world.

She snapped out as the smell of cooked meat and all sorts of other food were detected by her sharp animalistic senses. For a human to skip breakfast, that wasn't really a big deal, but for a Half-Esper that required more than twice the nourishment of a normal human, that was enough to activate "roaring stomach" mode.

Shin didn't even hold back the laugh that came with her embarrassing bellow from her stomach. She was at least glad that the sense of "when I marry him he'll change" was false, at least for now.

* * *

Thankfully for them, when they arrived, Gilgamesh had already managed to deliver the appetizers for the lunch and seemed to be well underway when it came to the rest. Terra and Shin took their marked places and the girl took to satiating her hunger for at least the next minutes. As they did, most of the crowd finally arrived.

They all took their places, sitting down and meandering for a bit as the waiters filled their glasses with assorted drinks to their liking. As they all were settled in however, Celes took up from her seat and banged her glass with her fork repeatedly to get their attention. Shin swallowed hard. Terra now remembered that at no point had the Best Man or the Maid of Honor taken their speech. Celes waited for a few moments as everyone quieted down, took one last glimpse at a small paper she had brought with her and began:

"I know this isn't exactly in tradition for the Maid of Honor to make a speech, but honestly, I feel like doing it, and I've certainly done more for this celebration than that horrid excuse for a Best Man over there, so there," Celes pointed out, the stars aligning in the semi normal occurrence that was Zack paying more attention to how slow the grass grew than what the proper speeches entailed. "I'll not take a lot of your time here. I'm simply here to give my blessings upon this pair that I, honestly, would not have even have considered allowing sprouting," she told, everyone freezing in their spots. Was Celes about to crash the wedding?! "I first met Terra back when she was nothing but a doll for the Empire. I did nothing but watch and even use her under the orders of the Emperor, feeling relief when she escaped just because it made my consciousness not as heavy as before. However, it was her that showed me what was wrong in the Empire, and she's probably the reason that Mobliz is free today because of that. What I did not expect of her, and something I'll never forget is how… she forgave me. After all I had done to her. She even… treated me as family. I had no doubt in my mind that Terra was the most beautiful flower I had ever seen grow in that desolate wasteland of weeds that was the empire. And then, he came along,"

Shin gulped visibly at how fast her tone had changed from Celes, the caring sister of Terra to Celes, the dark enforcer of perfection. He could only hope for mercy.

"At first, I hated the fact that Terra trusted in him so easily. She easily forgave people, that I knew of, but I knew that for all the beauty there was in her, she was also fragile. And who better to hurt her than someone who she had just put her trust into?" Celes started, the festive environment slowly freezing to a halt. They had no idea Celes was this… angry at the wedding. And why wasn't she saying this any sooner? This was just disastrous. "However, no matter how much I looked into every action he did, I didn't see any subtext to it, I didn't see any hidden intentions, no dissent. I didn't see anything. I saw a man that could make my sister smile in a way that I never even dreamed of. Before I understood what had happened, I had stopped distrusting Shin, I had become jealous of him," at this point Terra and Shin's hands slowly clasped back together. They had finally understood Celes. "For all the awkward flops he can have, for how much social logic he misses, for much he oversleeps, when she, no, when anyone truly needed Shin to be there for them, he was there. He didn't hold grudges, not even to people like me that never trusted him, for even a second. Let's not even speak of the sacrifices he would have and did, make for us. Slowly, I came to understand something. Shin, in his own way, is just like Terra. At that point, I understood, just how wrong I had been," finally, it was as if the ice around Celes and all around the air had melted. But, most importantly, a once in a lifetime event was taking place. Celes had a smile, not one of mockery or even a smirk, she was genuinely smiling. It was almost blinding.

"Terra, I always wished you the best, and that is why I am your Maid of Honor here. Because Shin is the best thing that could happen to you. I'll always love you and be here to support you, but now I can rest easy that there's somebody even more capable of doing my job." With that, as tradition called for, she rose her glass skyward and exclaimed: "A toast, to the newlyweds! May their lives finally find peace! To Shin and Terra!"

"To Shin and Terra!" The clanging glasses brought a realization to the girl. Just how many people were here? She could see that they easily numbered in the higher tens. She had spent so much time addressing the one man that had filled her life that she had almost neglected just how many people were now a part of it. Her life really had flipped upside down, hadn't it?

And then there was Celes. She had never noticed the reservations she held about Shin, much less expected her to go back on every single one of them. To the point of granting everyone in the party such a radiant smile. She was glad for her, a couple of years ago, neither of them would be able to be in such a situation. However, Celes' eyes had shifted just as fast as they had come, now eyeing someone else with her last bit of leftover aggression for the day.

"Okay, okay, fine, jeez!" Zack exclaimed, standing up, throwing the chair into the ground in the process, which he proceeded to pick up for the amusement of many. Same old same old. Even in his speech he was still Zack the Puppy. Coughing, straightening his tie and trying to shake off the level of fail he had just incurred, Zack nodded and started talking.

"Well, honestly, this is kind of the reason why I wasn't sure about taking the role of Best Man. Because, I'll be honest here, I always let the silver tongue business go down to people like Angeal and Rufus. So, when they asked me to prepare a speech, I was like: Well, guess I'm the one crashing the wedding," Zack said, causing half of the crowd to laugh at his bluntness while the other half was just afraid of what would come next out of this man's mouth. Shin was part of the later, Terra was part of the former, giggling excitedly while never letting go of her newlywed husband's arm.

"However, Cloud over there helped me a bit. He told me that the speech was basically about me saying whatever the hell I want, and you know how good I am at THAT!" Zack exclaimed, the reactions of both groups of people intensifying greatly. "Well, first, I have to congratulate the man in question. Because, the master himself was just surpassed," Zack said, smiling devilishly at Shin as he extended his hand. "I have no idea how he did it, but he charmed a woman that I, Zack Fair, once asked on a date. For reference, the last time that happened I had to die first," the way he just waved off his death as if it was nothing arose the morbid humor in all present even Shin was left to laugh at the bluntness of the man. "However, that's not why we're here today. I could just spend the entire afternoon just telling you every single awful little story I have about those lovebirds. Because I do have a lot… right here," Shin had suspected what was he paper on the inside of Zack's tuxedo, yet he only went pale when he understood the gravity of the situation. Zack had a LOT of dirt to dig upon, and if Shin knew Zack, it was all in that paper. Even Terra was afraid.

"But, I won't," Zack said, suddenly ripping the paper apart and, for the first time in a while, turning slightly serious. "We're here to celebrate how two people that, more than once questioned if there was even someone willing to live with what their origins brought about. While that concern was a bit unfounded, it didn't stop the way they did find another from being the most genuine unity that I ever saw two other people develop. I don't say this a lot, but Shin's a better person than me. For all you may think of me, I can be pretty irresponsible at times and I do like babbling way too much on things I shouldn't. He's not like that. He's kinda that perfect friend you have, but who's not insanely boring because of how perfect it is, you know, unlike him," Zack said, his finger understandably pointing straight towards the Warrior of Light. Hikari cringed but held himself from making a fuss. "I guess what I want to say is that… I'm glad I met the two of them, and I'm glad they met each other. They deserve it," with that, Zack took the Mic and handed it back Celes, who went to put it back into place. Yet, just before the atmosphere died down into a melancholy, Zack exclaimed with all his heart: "But enough about that, the free for all buffet is on!"

It was just in time too, as Gilgamesh had just given a clear on the pork the moment Zack finished. The couple got priority, obviously, serving themselves and, much like a lot of people around them, decided against eating at the table, starting to take on their first meal and Mr. and Mrs. Verus. Walking around, never separating, Shin started a conversation at last.

"So, how does it feel?" he asked her, Terra realizing they hadn't had an actual conversation for almost two days now. Things were just happening so fast that it had completely gone over her head.

"Overwhelming," Terra answered, straight to the point. That was, in a way, describing everything. The emotions, the day they had just gone through, the possibilities of what lay ahead… "Still, I wouldn't have had this any other way. You gave me the perfect wedding Shin, I don't know how to thank you…"

"Oh, shush. You and I both know Celes was the one in charge of all of this!" Shin dismissed, not being able to hide a blush. Terra found it adorable that he was blushing from a compliment coming from his wife of all things… even though her mind still found it hard to grasp that she was, in fact, his wife now.

"Celes wasn't at the altar, Celes didn't put a ring on my finger… and Celes certainly didn't stutter at the most important part of the wedding!" she really rubbed the last part in. Shin's face told him he didn't expect her to take it so well, but it was par for the course in Terra's mind. "Shin, sorry, but anyone that got to know you would know that, at some point in the marriage, you'd slip up. I trusted you to get right back up, and that's what I'm thankful for. I never doubted you… even if you probably did," She wasn't trying to guilt trip him, and he knew it, but she could see a small pang of guilt taking his expression.

"Well, guess I'm just that kind of guy, aren't I?" Shin asked, rubbing the back of his head. Terra smiled and took the chicken right off his dish. "Hey!"

"Consider this your pardon!" Terra teased, making the chicken leg vanish almost magically. The newlyweds shared a laugh that reminisced of their countless dates. Nothing, yet everything had changed.

* * *

It wasn't long until they found themselves meeting the first set of people to call them to their side. The Bridesmaids had apparently found themselves a nice little small table for themselves outside of the main table, Celes, Aqua, Aerith and Rydia all sharing in it.

"My, don't you two look the cutest," Rydia teased, the nearly middle aged woman looking as young as ever. The newlyweds couldn't help but be themselves and blush profusely at the compliment, the quad core of women of either marrying age or married chuckling in return. "I just wish my wedding was half as well thought out as this one…" Rydia sighed, not as much bad intentions as it was a bit of jealousy. Terra did see where she was coming from. While the wedding turned out to be enjoyable, half the guests had gotten lost in Eblan's caves, the others had to be brought in on the day because Edge forgot to invite them, and Edge had been a disaster at the altar.

"You tell me. I'm afraid this bouquet ends up being Locke's death sentence," Celes commented off-handedly, Shin chuckling in sympathy, he knew what the not-Thief would have to go through.

"Really? Because I wish my wedding was half as eventful as yours was Rydia," Aerith said, clearly knowing the nest of bees she was kicking.

"Thatsh becaush yur the only onesh without that problems!" Terra and Shin would never stop being surprised at how bad of a drinker Aqua was. She was there, dead drunk with barely a glass drank, toast not included. "I wishes I hash someone haslf ash dependabull ash Cloud!"

"Calm down Aqua, could be worse… it could be Zidane," Terra said, clearly pointing out a far worse example. Aqua proceeded to gulp down three glasses of water and cast Esuna on herself.

"Damn Terra, don't even joke about that!" she shouted, now completely sober. Laughter circled all around. There was a big difference between Zack and Zidane. Zidane was a playboy after marriage. Hadn't slowed down one bit. I mean, he never GOT anywhere with anyone, but that was beside the point. Zack just threw playful quips and acknowledged the "hotness quoficient" of a girl without actually making a move. "I wonder how Garnet takes it…"

"She's Queen. Keeping him restrained isn't that hard if she really wants to," Shin pointed out, the bluenette nodding.

"That being said, what are you guys going to do from now on?" Aerith asked, receiving two confused looks. "Don't stare at me like that. I mean after you do whatever couples do on their honeymoon," she winked. Terra, oblivious as ever, answered truthfully while Shin was to flustered to speak.

"I'm going to study!" Everyone raised an eyebrow, Shin included. "I want to teach kids! I looked over the ways I can help out, and Elementary Teacher just looks to be so much fun, and so useful… I can't see myself being anything other than that!" Shin looked surprised, everyone did. Terra was not quite sure why. She felt like this was the only job for her. To be surrounded by five year olds and teaching them all about life… it was like a dream come true! "Something wrong?"

"N-Not at all! I'm just surprised that you were so sure of it and yet never told me!" Shin said, quickly dismissing any doubts Terra could have gotten from the reactions of everyone around her, as they all had nodded in agreement. The girl put her finger over her lips and went into deep thinking.

"Now that you mention it… I think it was just never brought up," Terra explained, the most boorish and improbable of reasons coming up. "Huh, that's weird. What do you want to do after our honeymoon Shin?" she asked her husband… causing another downpour of sweat.

"Little Shiny doesn't know?!" Aerith teased, head bobbing from one side to the other in mockery of him.

"Oh, please Aerith, not everyone already had a job before this all happened!" Shin defended himself, trying, and failing, to come out on top. Aerith was indeed conditioned to be a florist already, however…

"It's been over a year already Shin, even I found something to do," Aqua explained, shutting down the young man's argument quite hard. Taking a pair of glasses from God knows where, she put them on, them fitting quite nicely in her figure might I add, and explained. "I'm on my way to being a journalist!"

"Journalist?" Terra asked, not seeing just where she was coming from.

"I like to travel, but fighting was something I only did out of duty… and my drive sort of vanished once the worlds became secure so to say… Zack helped me out narrow it down, to tourist guide or journalist. Since I'd rather be useful to society as it is now, journalist was the way to go. I can also go to many places others can't with my skills," Aqua explained, Shin and Terra nodding in agreement. It was a sound logic, and Aqua did have the cold head needed to write impartial articles, so she'd probably do great.

"What about you Rydia? Staying as Queen?" Shin asked, more like expecting her to say otherwise. It just wasn't Rydia.

"Mother is planning on serving as the bridge between Espers and Humans," Cuore said, the seven-year-old having appeared on the edge of the table, waggling her legs absentmindedly.

"I'll try to make the world even better for you Terra," Rydia added with a smile. Terra nearly choked, chastising herself by being so moved. She had a lot of friends now, she had to get used to them doing crazy things in the name of friendship.

"I'll probably apply as a scientist when I'm past the age of ten. I still have the latest of Lunarian Quantum Physics to comprehend. I'll need to develop my own thesis to get past the bias, that should take around two years, but I'll be conservative and say three," Terra was more amused at the thought of the scientific community's face than she was surprised at how blunt and outrageous Cuore had been. Scientist at age ten… yeah, that looked to be the normal way to go about things for her.

It was then that Terra spotted her sister walking away slowly from the table.

"Celes?" She asked, catching her mid-escape. "Something wrong?" she asked. Rydia and Aerith laughed out loud, Aqua chuckling in tandem with them.

"Celes, c'mon, you already told us, it's not as bad as you make it be!" Aqua told her, but she didn't seem to agree. Curiosity was growing on Terra. Just what had had Celes so ashamed yet so determined to be?

"Celes, if you truly want to do something, there's no shame in it!" she exclaimed, Celes stopping for a bit, but not getting to the point where she'd just confess.

"She's going to be an actress!" Rydia exclaimed, Terra shook her head in shock. It all made sense for Shin though, even if he didn't want to know it.

"Maria's role really rubbed off on you, didn't it?" Shin asked, referencing the Opera Scene back in Jidoor, and, by Celes' reaction, hitting right on the spot.

"That's… really amazing Celes! And it will support your shopping habits!" Terra exclaimed, completely unaware of how bad what she had just said would sound on society. That's what happens when you live three fourths out of your life outside it.

"J-Just go meet the other guests!" Celes dismissed, going towards the drinking stall in a march of anger.

"That may just be a good idea…" Terra said, looking up to her confused husband. "Maybe you'll get a better idea of what you want to be if we ask around!" she explained with a smile. A light bulb appeared above Shin's head as he finally "got it".

* * *

And so, they took to walking around the reception grounds, congratulations galore from every friend they met, yet, none of those conversations ended without the simple question of what they were planning for the future.

"The future? You mean my job," Lightning asked as she laid down her wine. "Well, honestly, I'm about ready for a vacation for now, but I guess I'll try to get the Guardian Corps back in shape once I'm back," she explained. "Want to join? I can probably find you a place on my squad," Shin's face was one of sheer terror. Terra looked at Firion for help, who smiled back and explained:

"Me and Aerith are founding a chain of stores. We'll start with two, one for Midgar and one for Pulse. We'll just try to go from there," the man of roses explained, the fitting task that befell him was something that, along with Lightning, didn't help Shin. "But if you'd like a suggestion Shin, how about using some of those memories when it comes to finding what you are able to do well?"

"That's right Shin! It may be considered a bit of a cheat, but still…" Terra said, the idea of using one of Shin's strangest and more unique traits some use was something she saw quite a bit of potential one. However, there was one flaw in it.

"That doesn't narrow it down that much," Shin explained, Terra having to recognize that there was probably quite a bit of knowledge inside Shin's head right now, however, she felt like they had taken a step in the right direction.

* * *

"What I'm gonna do? Well, me and the Gilgster are opening a diner!" Prishe exclaimed as they met with her and her group. Shantotto was a no-brainer, so they had just asked Prishe. The answer didn't surprise any of them. "Watcha 'bout you Lighty?"

"I am taking the Vanguard against the monsters! While SOLDIER protects the people, I'll exterminate them at their core!" he exclaimed with burning zealotry. Shin and Terra laughed awkwardly. That barely qualified as a job.

"I have a question for you, Shiny-poo!" the doctor began, her rhymes as sick as they always were. "The memories you got, do they only affect the mind, leaving he muscles to rot?"

"I don't have muscle memory, if that's what you're asking," Shin responded. Shantotto laughed and skipped away, however, they had both gotten the hint. Shin was probably best suited for a desk job if he were to take advantage of his gift.

* * *

"Being a King is all I can really be at this point," Ceodore pointed out, the newly crowned King of Baron probably finding it difficult filling his father's shoes.

"Ditto, but I do try to run a side gig with the theatre," Zidane explained, the first of the five eight nine taking a pretty tame approach at it.

"I'm getting the Gardens back up. We're probably going to need them more than ever now, that and we need to rebuild Esthar," Squall told the newlyweds, being as short and to the point as he had always been.

"Exploring is what I always did, and I'm just going to keep on going! You could join me and Lenna Shin, I mean, you're more aware of the three world's history than probably anyone else!" Bartz exclaimed, the fact that he mentioned Lenna joining him telling Shin and Terra of her decision. They were in no place to question it.

"I appreciate the offer Bartz, but I could never just leave Terra like that…" Shin said, lovingly rubbing his cheek on Terra's scalp in the mushiest way possible. The blonde and brunette duo had the laugh of their lives, yet Terra and Shin didn't mind it one bit.

* * *

"Blitzball. I'm getting back up, no matter what!" Tidus was succinct. It was a pity he lacked any advice for Shin, but to tell the truth, due to how little they had interacted due to ace's unique joining method he probably didn't know Shin enough to say much.

"King of Dalmasca. Prohibited to be a Sky Pirate on the side, I checked," Vaan said with a tinge of disappointment. "I'd ask Luneth for an opinion, but he's probably related to Onion Chopper for the next couple of years!"

"Shut up! I just have too much to choose from now, that's all! It's not like I got _married _without knowing how to support Terra or anything!" the little Knight of the Onions didn't hide his bad blood with Shin, he had never done it, blame it on Terra and Shin just waving it off as it was part of his Luneth's "rebel phase".

* * *

"Still not joining SOLDIER Cloud?" Terra asked the final member of the Warriors of Cosmos, well, the ones that had the crystals at least. Cloud had been easy to find, just find a place with absolutely no one in there and he'd be the one sitting there.

"Can't tell at this point… what, you're thinking of enrolling Shin?" Cloud questioned, his mako-filled eyes looking deep into Shin's passive brown ones. This was the one job Shin knew how to answer to.

"No, I'm done with fighting. We both are. I just want to find a peaceful job, away from all of what we had to the past year. One that I can come back home and see my beautiful wife everyday…" he explained, pecking Terra on the forehead to prove a point. Cloud just stayed neutral throughout the speech, he probably was aware of the answer before it was even said.

"I guessed you'd say something like that. Someone like you, that just saw and lived through our entire lives and had to carry the weight of their stories on your shoulders until you could write the final chapter for all of them is better off telling them as goodnight stories than creating any more of them," Cloud said, opening up his own psyche. It was clear to Terra that, just like them, Cloud was tired of swinging a sword around for everyone's sake. The time had come for them to simply lay down their weapons and make way for the next generation. Shin, however, seemed to have taken something else out of the conversation.

"Cloud, you're a genius!" he exclaimed, beating his hands together.

"He is?" Terra questioned Cloud juts as shocked.

"I… am?" somehow, Cloud had solved a riddle he had never have set out to give it a try.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do now!" Shin exclaimed. Terra stopped being shocked and questioning just what had happened and was simply curious to just what her husband was about to try and become.

"What is it then Shin?" she asked, receiving a look she had not received in a while. This looked was a mix of mischief and pleasure. She didn't like it one bit.

"Sorry Terra, I'll tell you when it _comes up_," he taunted, flopping away from her arm and laughing heartily. Terra, as one would expect, was less than thrilled.

"Shin, don't be like this!" she whined, trying to get a hold of her husband, failing horribly. It was obvious that Shin would need some convincing. However, there was something that stopped Terra from immediately pursuing the answer. She was also guilty of a secret she did plan to reveal later today. She could use that as a bartering tool. The realization of it was more than amusing. "If you can be devious to your own wife, don't expect me to pull back my punches," she whispered, enjoying the confusion on Shin's face while she grabbed his arm, cradled it into the same, loving arm lock they had shared for the afternoon, and, as if nothing had happened, said:

"It's around five already. We should be cutting the cake, shouldn't we?" dragging her husband with her back to the table, enjoying giving him a taste of his own medicine for once.

* * *

"Celes told me to make a traditional cake, so I just took it as a sign to make it a complete cheese fest! Not in the ingredients though…" Prishe explained, introducing the couple to the cake they were about to cut. It was she said, the cake anyone would expect on a wedding, being a completely white cake made out of circular layers that grew smaller with each of the layers, ending with the figure groom and the bride at the altar. It was beautiful in its simplicity, and, if Prishe was to be trusted, tasted just as good.

"This is the last tradition, right?" Shin asked, a bit exasperated about the amount of rules he had to follow on a day that was supposed to be just for him and Terra.

"Well, outside of us having to leave first, yes," Terra told him as she was handed the knife. She too yearned for the time where she could be alone with her newlywed husband, however, she couldn't deny that there was a simple yet unforgettable magic in going through the motions of the wedding ceremony. Even though this was close to the last, once Shin and Terra's hand joined to slice open the cake, her heart fluttered once again, even for the simple action of cutting off a slice.

Once they had finished, it was time for everyone to be served. Terra and Shin took their slices and happily engulfed them, being more than delighted with the taste. They could feel that the ceremony was starting to slow down… or was it?

"Testing, testing, is this thing working?" a very familiar voice appeared from what seemed to be nowhere. While no one knew what that meant at first, as soon as the previously spotless sky darkened with beam of light manifesting itself right in front of the bride and groom, Terra connected the dots.

"This is a magic spell, not a radio. I doubt that treating it like one will help," Terra's heart stopped at the voice of the man. There was no way… was it?

"That's why I'M the greatest mage in the universe, not you, you silly Esper! Behold!" yeah, that was definitely Merlina alright. After the sound of various hits to the back of her staff, the light started to project an image within. At first, it just looked like a punch of static, but, after what sounded like an uncanny amount of whacking, finally, the image focalized. "Aha! Told ya Maduin! You owe me a drink!" Merlina as her image appeared in the small circle of light in the center of the celebration, glorifying herself in front of the much larger man before quickly being thrown to the side. "Fine, be that way!" she screamed from off-screen.

"Papa… Mama?!" Terra exclaimed, dropping her dish, Shin moving swiftly to catch it before it hit the ground. It was just in front of her eyes, but, for those few seconds, the image of her parents standing in front of her once again after over a year made the young woman question if the wedding had been a dream or reality.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, my little star?" Maduin was the first one to talk, the Esper not even trying to hide the beaming pride in his expression.

"How…?" Terra asked, reaching out to touch the image of her father, only to have her hand traverse the holographic-like body of the duo. The circle of light was barely big enough to fit both her parents, and it hurt more than a little to confirm that this was merely a message, a part of her begged for it to be a return from the beyond.

"We called in for a few favors. Merlina was granted permission to link the two planes for a few minutes, even if it was in image only," Madeline explained, her facial expression being less exaggerated than Maduin's, but that was simply because of how she was, Terra was able to see the same amount of pride welling inside her mother's eyes.

"Th-thank you for being here, Mr. and Mrs. Branford," Shin stepped to say, feeling the need to take at least some role in the conversation. These were his parents-in-law now, were they not?

"Why, if it isn't my new son-in-law. You've been doing a… adequate job," Maduin told Shin, while he had no real beef with him anymore, Terra still understood that her father saw Shin as someone that would replace him in her heart. It was a stupid belief, but one all parents share to some degree.

"Shush Maduin, he's been quite impressive. That proposal was ten times less half-assed than your "we're going to have a kid, shall we be mates"?" Madeline admonished, leaving her husband at a lack of words. The crowd shared a chuckle.

"Point taken…" Maduin sighed, Terra pitying her father and trying to pull the thread on the conversation.

"Well, what brings you here Papa, Mama?" she asked. While she was so happy she could cry, she was still interested in what it meant for her to have her parents appear from the afterlife right in front of her.

"We didn't come here to tell you anything it's just… what kind of parents don't want to see their only child taking the greatest vow?" Maduin explained, his composure returning completely as he refocused on the matter at hand. For a few moments, he and his wife took their time watching over the entire crowd, but mostly Terra, relishing in the rare gift that they had been given. "You look even more radiant than ever Terra…"

"Thank you Papa. Celes helped me pick the dress, it does looks gor-"

"The dress is beautiful Terra, but we meant you. You look positively radiant," Madeline explained, her image silencing Terra's lips with her finger, even if it could not make contact. "It's amazing how… just a few years ago, your father and I were praying for you to find a single person to accept you. A single person to make you happy. We were ecstatic when you found the orphans. It was the first time that we had ever seen you truly happy. We could never have imagined to find you surrounded with so many people that accept and love you… one of them willing to share his life with you," deep seethed melancholy mixed with vast bliss swept with every word of Madeline. The very sentiment that had come over Terra earlier was something that affect not only her, but her parents too.

"I felt that too… it took me some time, but this wedding showed me far more than Shin's love for me. It showed me… everyone's love. The realization nearly had me in tears," she told them, slowly interlocking her hand with Shin's. Madeline nodded back, her eyes holding in the tears herself.

"If… we had to come here to pass you a message… the best I could tell you is that, the life in front of you, the road you are about to walk, while it may be completely different from the one you walked up until now, it's not about the end. Your life Terra is no longer about the destination. You should enjoy the little detours. To the fullest. Because that's where you'll find the things more important than what you want," Maduin's voice had become one that more people could associate with the protector to all Espers, as his words had made a deep impact in Terra. He was right.

For the first time since she was born, her life had lacked a final goal, it became about the detours, about the things she herself wanted to do and see. Her life was finally in her hands. Her's and Shin's, as they now shared their life.

"Papa I… I'll do just that. Thank you!" Terra said, tears flowing down her cheeks. She wished to take her father and mother's arms right now, but she knew she couldn't. It was as agonizing as it was blissful to see them here.

"That and, don't let the past lock its chains back onto you. Your future is brighter than anyone could ever have imagined. There's no need to not go forward," her mother finished, by this point, all Branfords sharing in each other's tears.

"I know Mama…" she knew she couldn't hold them, but that didn't stop Terra from stepping forward, throwing her arms around Maduin's and Madeline's image, an empty hug that felt just as real as one where flesh touched flesh soothing her mind.

"Sorry to be a party pooper, but I can't maintain this much longer…" Merlina's voice said from the side. "I mean, I'll sacrifice my moment with my grandson all you want since he has my son in his head, but I'd say it's best for you to wrap this up. I'll get Shin when he comes up here anyway…" In any other situation, Shin would demand explanations, but even Shinryu knew he was better off not knowing.

"Seems like our time here is up," Maduin told Terra, wiping away her tears. "It's been good seeing you one last time. Don't be in a rush to follow us, a lot more people need you here," he told his daughter, his large hand pretending to rub her scalp. "Shin, take care of her for me, will you?"

"On my life," Shin replied, hand over his heart.

"You'd better," Maduin joked meekly. Madeline took her turn as the light began to fade.

"We're happy for you Terra, even happier for what you carry with you, yet, I think it's about time you tell him. I'm certain he'll be as thrilled as we were," Terra was not surprised that Madeline knew of her secret, and she planned to follow her mother's wish to the last. When she nodded, Madeline smiled back. "Goodbye sweetie. We'll see you when the time comes. Until then, be happy!" and in that note, the light vanished as swiftly as it came, blue skies replacing the darkened clouds. Yet, in Terra's eyes, it was if it had rained.

"Goodbye, Mama… Papa…" she whispered, feeling Shin's hand take her's. She knew then that it was time. Cleaning her tears with her free hand, she turned to Shin and took both his hands with hers. "Shin, there's something I need to tell you," Shin's face turned quizzical, but he was not about to question Terra's face. It was important, he could feel it. He would wait to hear it at her own pace. "Yesterday, I didn't just go to get my dress," she began, seeing in his eyes that he had suspected it. Her heart beat faster. "I went to pay Hope a visit…" She didn't have to be afraid. Why would he be angry? Why would he reject what had happened to her. "Shin you're… no, that's not it… you already are one…" she looked at Duane and the rest of the orphans, the twelve kids of Mobliz nodding in tandem. "Shin, I'm… pregnant."

Time froze for both her and Shin. Shin simply blinked repeatedly, not being able to assimilate what Terra had just said. Terra took a deep breath and said:

"I'm three wee-"

"I'm… going to… have a baby?" Shin asked, his eyes still completely glossed. Terra fearfully nodded. They had never discussed having kids of their own. He knew it was one of her greatest wishes, but they had not decided if they should have one before the orphans grew up. "I'm… I'M GOING TO HAVE A BABY!" fear turned into bliss. Shin was crying once he took Terra by the hips and took her to air, spinning around with her in tow. Tears swept wife and husband as the congratulatory shouts multiplied, clapping and tears soon followed.

He had been conscious that he was already a father, he had accepted her baby. He had married her. They were going to share their lives, their children, flesh and blood and not, they had started to walk on the same road.

No day in Terra's life could possibly top this one.

* * *

Before anyone knew, it was sunset. The rest of the afternoon had passed in a flash for everyone in the wedding. Glasses of drinks had been gulped down, singing and dancing had been had, more than a few jokes had been cracked over Shin and Terra's relationship, everyone had simply had the time of their lives. But every good thing has an ending. Now, we joined Terra and Shin as the husband had been the first to hop on Stardust, the golden bird having been chosen as the steed that would take them away from the wedding and into their honeymoon.

"Well, it's time for us to be going…" Terra said, having already said goodbye to everyone in there.

"Don't let Stardust go crazy. I want you to get to your honeymoon alive," Celes half-joked, Terra nodding and taking her seat in front of Shin. The groom wasn't about to ride her out of her own wedding, no, she was taking the Reins of Stardust.

"You heard Celes Star, let's make this flight enjoyable and safe," she told the bird, who, for once, did not have any backtalk. She understood that this was her mother's day, she would do anything for her. Stardust prepared to take off, golden feathers scattering to the winds.

"Terra, Shin!" a voice came, Cloud standing in a line being formed by the twelve remaining Warriors of Cosmos that she had met during the war and befriend. "It was fun… you two," Cloud said, a rare smile on his face. As the ensemble started waving them goodbye, Shin and Terra nodded back at them, shouting:

"We'll see you soon!" as Stardust took to the sky. The Golden Chocobo's feather's reflected the sunset into a beautiful aura-like light as they ascended to the skies. For a moment, Shin took notice of the priest that had married them standing on a nearby hill together with a silver haired woman. Terra noticed it too, and they both understood.

"We were truly blessed, weren't we?" they commented as they flew into the horizon.

"Hey Terra?" Shin asked her wife. "How long do you think our road will last?" the young woman smiled inwardly, knowing just the kind of words to speak. Ones that would seem straight out of her husband's mouth.

"Forever."

* * *

**Post-Chapter Note:** That… was a beast of a chapter if I ever wrote one. It brought up emotions in me like no other. I have no idea if this is my best chapter ever, but honestly, I don't really care. I don't see any way I could have pulled this off better than what I did, and I won't try to. This is as special as it gets to me, and I hope it stays the same way with you. That's my job as a writer after all, I just hope I lived up to it. So, for the last time in this story…

Later, Buddies.


	4. Ever After Part 1: Family

**Author's Note:** You thought it was Normalcy that was gonna get updated next, but it was I, UnDioning! Seriously though, you actually thought I'd end the story with the wedding? Heck no! We gotta go back into the future! Get back into the car Marty, this trip ain't over yet!

**PS:** Happy Birthday Terra Branford! Number one stal- I mean fan here!

* * *

**An Undying Sentiment**

**Chapter Four**

**Ever After... **Part 1:****

**Family**

* * *

We rejoin this narrative after many years took a toll in this world. It was the year 20 P.R., eighteen years past our last entry in this world. After the cataclysmic events of our previous tale, it was more than logical for the worlds to adjust to each other, the first measure being the establishment of a joint calendar. For that reason, the Post Rebirth Calendar had been made mandatory to all worlds.

Sitting on a barely lit room, a single lamp illuminating the desk, a figure forced his hands to type on a typewriter. The room itself was far more advanced than something out of the stone age like that, with technology you'd only have seen in Caelum or Pulse previously like moving photos and paintings, top of the line computers, even one of those things that had been called smartphones.

However, the man was paying attention to none of it. For the first time in over three months he had felt the urge to type, something that came and went like the wind. That had been two days ago. He was going to utilize this surge of writing power as best as he could, either until he fell to the side limp or until he finished.

Thank God he was just about done.

_"Goodnight Shin…" She whispered in his ear before burying her head on his chest._

_"Goodnight little Tewah." He joked around, getting a small slap on the shoulder before leaning his chin on her head, drifting to the most satisfying sleep he had had on his life so far_.

And with that, the man threw his arms back, screaming: "DONE!" predictably losing his balance and falling straight with his head first on the ground. Not only that, but his feet hit the table pretty hard, catapulting one of the pictures from it through the air and straight into the man's face.

He groaned, taking the moving framed picture obstructing his vision and casually looking at it. Oh, how he remembered it. It was the first time he had seen one of those, eighteen years ago. Noctis had brought it in for the ceremony. He couldn't help but smile as he repeatedly saw his wife smear the cake right into his face, him paying her back in full.

"Good times," he said with a husky voice, just before the door to the study was slammed open, light erupting into it and enlightening every part of it. His eyes weren't accustomed to the light, so when he looked into the source, he didn't see anything but the shade of a young woman looking down at him.

"Don't worry Mother, Papa is just being Papa," the girl said with a hearable annoyance in her voice. He couldn't really blame her, he had just sat in a room all alone for two days. That and he was pretty clumsy all things considered. Not fighting for his life had dulled his senses more than he imagined.

Or at least that was the excuse he wanted to give himself.

"Tell him to come in for breakfast! I'm not asking!" he took a deep breath and swallowed hard. His wife had taken it worse than he thought. Even the girl ahead of him, he could barely distinguish her features now, winked her eye at him and said:

"You heard the lady. Better get going before you get couch duty," she teased, turning her back and leaving him to get himself up. Sighing, he went back to his typewriter and removed the last page from it, doubled checked it and smile, adding it to the very bottom of a stack of paper, picking it up and heading outside.

* * *

The kitchen was not far away, far from it, it was literally a turn away from the study, it took barely thirty seconds for him to enter the simplistic yet well designed division, his eyes finally adapted to the light. Only two people were in the room, the one he first looked was busy preparing the full breakfast that the family required. The woman noticed that her husband had finally entered the room and removed some into a plate, turning to him with a look that mixed exasperation and worry.

"Honey, we've been over this," she sighed, handing him the plate and shaking her head. She had obviously disliked what he had pulled, that was obvious.

"I know, but still, the drive to write is rare as is, I can't waste when such a huge inspiration comes to me," the man took the plate and smiled apologetically.

"Shin, what you're doing is not healthy! We don't _need_ the money from your books anymore, we haven't needed it for the last ten!" she exclaimed, clearly on nerve's on edge. "I just get worried about you… that's all," by now Shin knew he had screwed up worse than the last couple of times he had been closed off in his study. Laying down both his book and his plate, he wrapped his wife in a tender hug, ignoring the teen at the table's grunt of exasperation.

"I'm alright Terra, next time I'll take a break every now and again," he whispered, comforting Terra for a few moments before the duo stepped back and looked at each other.

Terra had definitely matured over the years. While no one would have her as a woman in her early forties, she did not look like a teenager anymore. Her posture, face and even code of dressing had strayed away from the floral and extravagant look she had in her youth. That isn't to say she had completely lost her exotic beauty, as her violet eyes were still a sea that many men drown into. Not only that, but pale blonde hair now descended freely, her ribbon no longer having it in check, it had also grown past her shoulder, not nearly as long as Rydia's, but it still lead to a beautiful sight when wind blew it free. Her face and body had also aged, albeit not nearly as much as they should, she looked to be in her early thirties, not forties. Shin and Terra had been ready for this, Half-Esper anatomy was something completely new to humanity, that and they didn't particularly mind.

"I'll have to see it to believe it," Terra said with a renewed smile. She only half expected Shin to fully follow up in that promise, but she and him were two-of-a-kind when it came to losing themselves in work, so it was only fair for her to be glad he was okay and move on. Seeing as things had already calmed down, Shin took a seat on the table, his eyes sliding towards the girl by his side, which seemed to be too busy checking her phone and eating up twice as much as you'd see a girl with her figure eat, well, three times was more like it.

"Mother really has you by a leash, doesn't she Papa?" she teased, a snide smile gracing her cheeks. Shin sighed at the antics of his daughter. Tina Branford Verus was both the splitting image of her mother and her complete opposite in more than one way. Tina's hair was the carbon copy to her mother's younger days, in both constitution and style, albeit taking more of her Esper heritage than her mother had, as it was of an unmistakable green hue. It was to the point that, at her tenth birthday, Terra had gifted Tina with the very same ribbon she had used for most of her life, the one memento she had from Madeleine. As her mother before her, Tina had not separated from it ever since. She also shared the same sea of violet in-between her eyelids. This is where the similarities came to a halt however. Tina was already quite a bit taller than her mother, almost ten centimeters so, and her body structure far diverted from Terra's "pure and petite".

In short, she was such a slobber knocker Shin had wondered just how she had come from Terra. Her body seemed to have been specifically tailored to fit society's notion of what is desirable right now. Her body was smooth and curvaceous at all the right spots, especially when it came to her, ahem, her chest area. It looked like the gigantic amounts of food she consumed all fell into those two spots. Again, Shin wondered just what genes had made Tina like this. He didn't mind having a beautiful daughter, however he did mind the amount of times he had found his hand on the cheek of a boy that had gone a bit too far a bit too near him. It was also incredible how Tina was, somehow, still boyfriendless. That didn't come with the lack of volunteers; her standards were just incredibly unfair for any mortal being.

Ah yes, her psyche. That was another point Shin couldn't believe this girl was the daughter of either of them, but that is something that should be shown, not told.

"You know, she was just worried is all, we all were." Tina added as she took a bite out of her toast. Her father looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"You all were? Even you?" Shin asked, not surprised about the fact that Tina had been worried about him, just by the fact that she had mouthed those concerns.

"Of course Papa! Who would take me shopping if you went belly flop because of your books?" she squeaked, latching on to his right arm as he was left sighing at his daughter's antics. Celes had warned them how they had been spoiling their firstborn, but it was almost against their nature to not spoil her, especially due to how well Tina managed to flatter her way into success. As a result, Tina had become quite the Papa's girl and quite the money sink for the family. Thing is, Shin didn't really mind all that much, unless he ever ran into money problems, then yes, he knew he'd be boned.

"Tina, be a darling and get your brother. I'm pretty sure he overslept again," Terra said while continuing to prepare breakfast. There were still more mouth to feed after all, hers included. Tina's face contorted at the request:

"But Mother, you know how Kefka is. I'll probably get some undisclosed goo all over me if I try to get into his room!" she exclaimed, obviously not being the biggest fan of the idea.

"That's ironic coming from someone who's even less tidy than him. The only thing making your room presentable is you asking your father to clean it," Terra said mercilessly, knowing exactly how to checkmate her teenage daughter by this point. Tina had no comeback at this point, her pride forcing her to just bite into the request as she moved upstairs.

"My, aren't you the strict parent now," Shin teased as he ate his first meal in two days while taking a final look into his work.

"Someone has to compensate for how much you pamper her," Terra replied in a playful manner. "Besides, you're the same way for Kefka,"

"Because you pamper him to bits. Guess we're just apt at playing good cop bad cop," Shin bantered, feeling amused at how weirdly their family had to started to compose. Tina and Kefka were twins, well, fake twins as Kefka was obviously a guy. While they had thought that Tina would quickly become attached to her mother and Kefka to his father, it had turned out quite the opposite, with Terra pampering Kefka to the best of her abilities and Shin having to intervene, just like Terra had to for Tina. It was a weird family dynamic to be sure. Involuntarily, Shin's attention turned to the TV as Terra went back to cooking, a very familiar face appearing on the plasma TV screen.

"And as always, this has been Aqua from Channel 7 News, signing out!" the old family friend exclaimed as the morning news came to a close, giving way to publicity. Aqua had become a reporter like she had set out to do, however the years had taken a toll on the woman and, as she passed her bodily forties a couple of years back, she had decided to take a slower approach at it and become the station's news anchor. She had already become a awarded reporter on her own right so she had no qualms with having a slower life than simply being on the forefront of the news for most of the time. But more importantly…

"She's free now, you should call her," Terra pointed out, suddenly hitting Shin with a dose of realization. The man quickly snatched his phone from his pocket and chose Aqua's contact, a quick one-two ring being enough for the middle aged woman to pick up.

"Aqua here. Something you need Shin?" she asked, ever the realist. While Shin was far from the lecher, he was actually quite helpful when she needed anything from his family, however, for someone to call her up as soon as her shift was over, it was because they needed something.

"Yeah, well, just checking to see if you were still up for editing the book," Shin asked, Aqua's brow immediately shooting up from the other side of the line. It was true that, ever since the beginning, Aqua had served as his editor, seeing as Shin, under a pseudonym, had had a really hard time finding an actual professional editor and publisher. Now he didn't need her, heck, he could probably get any editor he damn well pleased, but he insisted they were a team and any other editor would change the feel of the story, so she wasn't surprised about the request. What she was surprised about was…

"You already finished it?! You were at the one-third mark for the last six months!" she exclaimed from the other side of the line. Shin smiled and shook his head. That was to be expected, the families had had dinner barely a week ago.

"I kinda got it finished in the last two days," Shin explained, Aqua taking a few moments to take in just how much she would have to edit from a two-hundred plus pages two day rush. She sighed and asked:

"How do you even manage to write that fast in a typewriter?" she was genuinely curious as to how someone could type that fast in general, much less when it came to writing on a typewriter.

"You should just be asking Papa why he uses a typewriter at all," Tina pointed out from the entrance of the room, adding the reason for being there immediately: "Kefka was already getting dressed; he didn't let me in,"

"Look, it just feels better to write in that, alright? I don't like how the keys on the computers feel!" Shin explained, not even he fully realizing just why he was only able to write in that typewriter. Maybe it was the sound? The feeling? Some of his memories diverting his tastes?

"That's such an old timer thing to say. You really are older than what you look, aren't you Father?" teased a different voice, this one far calmer yet with a sharper edge than Tina's.

"You should stop sneaking on people like that Kefka," Shin sighed, turning to see how even Tina had jumped back when she saw Kefka sitting on the very same table she was sitting. "Cuore can do it because her father is a ninja, stop picking after habits like that,"

"They're pretty useful, so I'm afraid I'll have to decline," Kefka replied, the twin to Tina having a plate with the normal quantity of food for a human being left on his plate. Kefka Branford Verus, age 17 just like his twin sister, was by far the most human person in the household. While both he and his parents did not display any differences from a human in their outward appearance, Kefka had, to this day, not shown any semblance of inheritance of Shin or Terra's other genes, at least when it came to trancing, something Tina had already activated a few times, albeit mostly accidentally.

Much like Tina took after her mother, Kefka took after his father, albeit not sharing as much semblance as Tina did. His blonde hair was not displayed in a mane like Shin, it was more loose and wild, but shared the overall length. He also did not share his eyes with his father, his sky blue eyes seemingly inherited from Terra's family, or at least they told themselves of that to shake off just how similar he was to his namesake. What he did share with his father was his overall build and body structure. While he had stopped growing barely two centimeters away from his father's height, he was still an imposing man, albeit less muscled due to his habit of holing himself at the nearest possible lab. Shin wondered how he even had any muscle at all, wondering if they were really literally made of mana.

"He has a point about them being useful, although I'd rather not know what he uses them on," Terra said, smiling back at her son, just a bit unnerved about what he could pull off when he wanted to. Shin and Terra's family and everyone that knew them had already adapted to Kefka's… weirdness. He wasn't insane or anything, much the opposite.

"Anyway, Aqua, sorry for the interruption," Shin told Aqua, who was giggling nonstop at how chaotic that family could be even after eighteen years.

"Don't worry. Fine, just digitize that and send them to me, I'll send you the prepared text in a week or so. Have a job to keep up, you know?" she asked, Shin more than understanding her.

"No problem, thanks Aqua!" he exclaimed, the bluenette hanging up with:

"It's what I'm here for," with that, the phone beeped and there was silence… for about five seconds.

"MOOOOOOOOM!" the shout came from outside, everyone in the room knew that. Looking at the time, Terra realized just who it was that had awakened the whole neighbor by now and opened the window even before she heard the same voice yell: "Windoooow!" just as said window was laid open before it. Just then, a gold flash erupted into the room, the person landing with one hand on the table, propelling herself upward, flipping in midair and landing perfectly just next to the door. "Nice reflexes Mom!"

"I just knew you'd be getting back home soon," Terra dispelled, greeting the child that came after the twins with a warm smile.

"I'm that predictable huh? Guess I'll probably just start changing the hours I start my morning practice then, give you the challenge!" the girl said, her breath still a bit uneasy from the exercise she had said to have been having. That is, until, she took a better look at the table. "Pops! You got out of the darn study? Took you what? Two days? Talk about lazy!" she exclaimed, always as hyper as she had been.

"Lazy? I haven't slept for two day- You know what? Alright Nimbus, I was lazy. Tomorrow morning, I'll go out for a job with you," Shin knew better than to try and start a discussion with Nimbus. When it came down to it, Nimbus was stubborn as a mule. "That said, how about a quick shower? I'm pretty sure you should be sweating," he pointed out, completely unable to see if she was or not. Now, why, you may ask, was he unable to discern it?

Well, while Kefka had inherited a bit too little of the magical blood that came with his dragon and esper heritage, Nimbus had bitten off more than she could chew. She had been born in Trance and had never dropped out of it for the past sixteen years. She didn't mind it at all, if anything, it was a part of her by now, but she had had some problems when she was younger when it came to how she looked. Albeit not as pronounced as some of her family. How did she look however? Well, when it came to her build, she was a somewhat taller, far more fit Terra, as you could see the outline for some of her muscles, the rest was very much like her mother. Now, appearance wise, it was a whole different ballgame.

Her body was covered in a fine layer of golden fur yet, it seemed to also house crystalline scales. Said scales in her body were, strangely, shaped like clouds. As you can imagine they were the same kind of clouds as her namesake implied. Terra was not the most original at naming. All the clouds on her body made a path; starting from her ankles, going up alongside the side of her legs to her waist where they started to move to her back, coming around the front to her chest where they made a makeshift bra, up to near her shoulders and then trail down the arm to her wrists. Most of it had been hidden by the training shorts and shirt, as society didn't really take well to walking around naked unless you were Terra and then no one would question it for some reason. Furthermore, Nimbus also possessed horizontal stripes on each of her cheeks and a tiara-like pattern on her forehead. Both her hands and feet were clawed with crystalline nails and her ears were elf-like in form, again most of it resembling her mother's trance greatly, scales and color aside. The final difference was that her hair was straight and nearly spiky at the part where it cut and cut short, just above her neck. Her eyes did show she was Shin's daughter however, those red and serpentine orbs obviously being remnants of Shinryu.

"You will?! Amazing! I'll be at my A-game tomorrow!" she exclaimed, her happy demeanor unshaking. It was no secret to anyone that she was _a bit_ on the hyperactive side. "Oh, and and I don't need a shower. PE is my first class today, so I'll just take it there!" Shin had nearly forgotten what day it was. Friday, February fifth… this meant that…

"If I had stayed a day or two longer inside the study, I was going to miss my daughter's birthday?!"Shin exclaimed as he reached the grim realization. The whole room just nodded their heads, being nothing else than amused as they saw their forty year old dad acting like a toddler over something so frivolous, even going as far as to jet out of the room and straight into the house's garden like a madman.

"Get her back here soon, we're already behind schedule!" Terra added, unsure Shin was even listening.

* * *

Now, Shin's house was indeed very modest when you compared it to how much money the family had gained over the past eighteen years, however, the garden was everything BUT modest. It was multiple times bigger than the house, it was something so large that it could be mistaken for a small farm by many. The reason for that was quite simple. Stardust and Choby had started a Choco-family, something that Shin knew Terra to be unable to give away. That, together with how much Terra and Shin's youngest daughter loved nature and the quietude of it all had inspired Shin to purchase the house farthest from the center in Mobliz and get them the best garden money could have bought in the terrain he was given.

The garden itself was nearly without any human construction, as Shin had intended, to simulate the wild as much as possible. It only really possessed the Chocobo barn at the very northwestern end of it and some benches laid out at key locations, of course having a fence to stop the chocobos from at least running away, not that that would have stopped them if they had not taught them before adulthood, as all Chocobos that Stardust mothered would have been able to fly. The rest was just lush grass, flower plantations by Terra, Tina and the youngest girl in the family and chocobos.

Shin knew where she'd be by now, in the very center of the garden was, as would be expected a bench to sit on, and that was, coincidentally, where the Chocobos most flocked to when someone was in the garden, meaning she would be there for sure.

"Pris?" Shin called as he arrived to find the bench empty. He began to find it strange, his daughter was not one to be late for school, much less disappear. If this was Tina or Nimbus, he'd be fine, but he was ready to go on a rampage over something so little when it came to his lil' Pris.

His worries were everything but founded when he took the moment to actually look around. There, he found the most adorable sight. Leaning against a sleeping Stardust was the small, frail looking figure of his youngest daughter, cradling one of the earlier Choco-chicks on her arms and the now a bit on the old side Chocolate laying on her lap. Shin was even unsure he wanted to disturb such a peaceful slumber, and he wasn't the only one it appeared. To the side of the adorable sight, was what Shin described as his family's greatest extravagance.

In short, it was a pet dragon. And I don't mean the small, lay on your shoulder ones. No, this was easily one that was three times as tall as Shin and much longer. The dragon was one of a species that even Shinryu's knowledge told him had been forgotten for thousands of years now. Light Dragons were rare enough as is, but this one, the Zerureusu, was rare even among them.

When it came to looks, the Zerureusu was a bipedal flying dragon with a large wingspan, the bulk of its body perpendicular to it's legs, with mainly ash-white coloring and strange crystal spikes formations exhibiting inner blue glow similar to Cherenkov's Radiation that were distributed evenly across the shelled surface of its body, with exception of the lower neck, underbelly and wing membranes. When it came to its actual physiology, outside of the two clawed paws, its body was denoted two large wings that were adorned with the crystals previously mentioned on its radial area, aka where the bones were, the tips of the phalanx being quite deadly looking. The wing membrane however, was a real sight to behold, it was decorated with a stretched hexagonal pattern. The rims of the membranes also exhibiting the same patterning, ending in making an allusion of a bird's wing instead of a dragon's. The Dragon also exhibited a large tail, almost as long as the rest of its body, a crystal tip born from the end of it. The last part, its large head was styled with a crown-like crest that commanded the same respect as a king's, with two spike protuberances on the lower part of the jaw that were just as deadly as it's fangs. All of it commanded respect. It was just a natural impulse. When you looked at the wyvern, with the crown-like crest, neck striking upwards while it looked down on its surrounding, you felt like kneeling.

Well, at least most people did, Shin only felt the urge to pet him for being such a good pet and not waking his daughter. He did have to admit that his posture had matured ever since they had found and hatched him though, he had gone from a quirky winged lizard to a proud dragon in barely ten years… guess that was befitting of the title the species went by. Supreme King of the Skies.

The story of where the family had found and adopted a freaking Light Dragon was one that was very simple yet equally confusing. It had been in Narshe, a bit over ten years ago. A striking blizzard had taken the town while the Branford family were living there, forcing every single family to barricade themselves at home.

You can imagine the parent's horror once they found out that their five year old daughter had ventured forth into the blizzard while they were preparing dinner. Terra and Shin had immediately flown, literally, out of the house and did their best to find their daughter in the merciless blizzard. They were lead to the center of the town by a single flash of white light that exuded more magical power than any of the two had seen in years. What they found there was baffling. Just one very familiar little girl holding a pure white egg, her eyes glazed as if she were in a trance. The moment her name was called, she collapsed on the fallen snow, Shin and Terra quickly taking her and the egg home.

As would have been expected, they decided to keep it, such a happening had to have some meaning.

"Watching over your Mama, are you Caelum?" Shin asked the large dragon as it had taken notice of it. Now, while Caelum as they had named him was incapable of smiling, the glint on its eyes and how it playfully rubbed Shin with its snout all pointed towards Shin's deduction. Caelum had taken the person who had hatched his egg with care and love as his mother, despite her appearance, and so, his mother was right there, slowly waking up by the voice of her father and the grunts of her "son".

Priscilla Branford Verus, age 15. The youngest and last of the Verus family, she was quite easily the spotlight stealer of the household. To say if that was in a good way or an awful way was up for debate. Tina was considerably more so akin to the pattern of "desirability" than her and Nimbus was far more in your face than the timid girl could ever be. No, what stole everyone's eyes was something else entirely.

It was the pure white, furry tail that was now slowly waving from side to side as Priscilla woke up. You have the right to be shocked. You can bet that Shin, Terra, and mostly everyone involved were speechless when, out of Terra came a baby that possessed a tail of all things. And they had seen a trance baby before. The explanation for it was simple. Of the three kinds of blood that were inside her, Human, Dragon and Esper, not one of them eclipsed the others, much unlike Nimbus' Esper blood or Kefka's Human blood. The bloods were there in perfect harmony, quite literally 33% of each blood flowing through her veins. As a result, Priscilla was not a human that looked like an Esper, an Esper that look like a dragon or a Dragon that looked like the other. She was a perfect mix of the three. A first in any realm of possibility.

Now, if her tail that combined Terra's fur with Shinryu's body was the only thing of mention, that wouldn't be much of a deal, however, her body said otherwise. Her more normal parts showed her to be a true mix of not only kinds, but of Shin and Terra. Her pale brown hair waved down her neck much like Terra's had been dipped on Shin's colors, and her pale violet eyes took a shape much similar to Shin's. Her overall body structure was even smaller and shorter than Terra, standing at a full two centimeters shorter than her mother while sharing her older, extremely frail looking body. Her more… exotic features however, were far more breathtaking. While hidden by her silver chocker, bracelets and anklets, it was true that the front of her neck, wrists and ankles possessed a line of crystalline scales. Not only that, was hidden from plain view, as her school uniform hid that, on her back, just below her neck was a large tuft of pristine white fur streaking down her back up, right over her spine, to around the end of the back of her torso. What was not hidden from sight however, besides the tail, were how her teeth were more akin to Terra's fangs, and how her eyebrows, while appearing normal from afar, could be noted to being two small rows of extremely tiny horns.

She was also the most pampered girl in the household. By far. Wanna know how pampered she was? As we speak Shin was already hugging her.

"Papa…? You finished your book?" she asked groggily as she did her best to wake up without being able to do some stretch.

"Yeah I did my little princess," Shin said, managing to somehow out cheese himself with the nickname he gave his daughter. Reason why everyone had pampered Priscilla was plain to the sight. Priscilla both looked and felt fragile, she was too pure and nice for her own good, and while her appearance was more than a blessing for those that accepted what she was, being absolutely enthralling, there were more than a few people that had thought her to be some kind of monster. Unlike Nimbus, who basically broke those people's noses, Pris was unable to just shut the comments off, causing the entire family to instinctively grow as a shield to the little girl. Even though she was far from little now, it all remained. "Sorry for going into the study so close to your birthday, I almost missed it,"

"Oh Papa, I trust you, you wouldn't. And even if you did, it was just because you wanted to sustain us!" point about her being too nice more than made. Even Shin knew that Priscilla should be at least a bit peeved at the fact that he just admitted he was gonna forget her birthday, but… she wasn't. She kept her sincere smile all the while. She was even more a sucker for cuddles than her Mother, something Shin knew they were to blame for. "Wait… what time is it?!" she exclaimed, finally realizing it and reminding Shin at the same time.

"Oh crap… it's nearly eight AM! Quick Pris, go get some breakfast!" Shin exclaimed, putting the girl back on the ground and nudging her to leave. As she nodded and ran back into the house, Shin looked back at Caelum. The Light Dragon snorted a bit at having his mother leave, but he was used to her leaving by now. Shin looked into his sky-blue eyes and smiled, telling him: "If anything happens to me, watch over her, alright?" Caelum nodded and opened his wings, showing off his massive wingspan and roaring back at Shin, if only to show that he was more than capable of it. "Aren't we cocky?" Caelum just shrugged. Shin never stopped to be amazed at the dragon's intelligence. If he didn't know any better, he was as intelligent as he was.

"Said the pot to the kettle," the final resident of the household spoke. Shin nearly hopped onto Caelum due to the fright. "That's really unbecoming of you son," Shinryu commented, his massive figure hove- oh, who am I kidding? He was barely bigger than Shin's head.

Now, don't get me wrong, this was Shinryu. He looked like a miniature of the once mighty crystal dragon, but he was indeed its splitting image in both body and soul.

"Said the foot tall dragon," Shin fired back, knowing just how self-conscious Shinryu was of his size.

"You ought to be careful when you sleep…" he sneered, dead serious about his warning, something Shin took to note. "That being said Shin, I need to speak to you about something important once you manage to get some time off,"

"Oh, I have all the time off in the world now. Aqua is going to take a while to edit my book," Shin pointed out, Shinryu slapping him with his small wing.

"You have children to take care off! Go see them off!" Shinryu blared, Shin oohing momentarily before Stardust pecked him in the back of the head, the bird basically telling him to go after Priscilla. Stardust had not aged a bit, fitting the folklore that all Gold Chocobos would outlive their owners.

"Fine, I'm going, I'm going!" Shin exclaimed, rushing back into the house with a smile.

"I honestly question if I should be thankful I was able to stay back or not," Shinryu sighed, the question being rhetorical.

* * *

"You sure take your time dad," Tina said as Shin finally arrived at the kitchen, seeing Priscilla nearly finished with her plate, something that stopped surprising him long ago, when he realized Pris took as much food to feed as Terra and Tina together. They were all standing there, fixing up their backpacks, everyone but Nimbus clad in the school's uniform, Nimbus was just already in her PE clothes.

Tina and Priscilla shared the same uniform, as would have been expected by the duo being girls and such.

They wore clothing that was very much fitting for the name of the Academy in Mobliz, the Branford Academy. The uniform consisted of a red collared button-up shirt under a violet vest, along with red-and-dark violet plaid-stripped skirts, obviously being based around Mobliz's founder and savior famed color scheme.

Kefka's uniform was about as blatant as the girl's. Like the girls, he wore a buttoned-up collared shirt, this one being gold however, under a black vest. However, unlike the girls, he wore a pair of black pants with golden lines, their inspiration obviously coming from the savior's now husband. They were painfully aware of it.

Both the uniforms had the school's emblem stitched right above their hearts, on it was a dragon mostly drawn at the back of the emblem, it's serpentine body curling around a crouching tiger-like creature that seemed to be made of lightning, known as the Raijū. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Kefka was, however, Kefka and disliked fitting in that much, so he had added a long, pink scarf around his neck that tended to fly to the wind once he started moving, but somehow never left his neck unless he took it off. Not only that, but he had added a headband around his head, the coloring of it being on a triangular style, in which the lower triangles were dark magenta and the top ones were yellow. If he wasn't for his name, he'd never be able to actually pull off adding stuff to the normally strict dress conduct.

"Where's your mother?" Shin asked, Nimbus taking to explain:

"Mom went to get her uniform upstairs, she should be here any minute now…" the golden girl explained, her prediction coming true almost immediately, as Terra descended from the stairs just then.

The teacher's uniform was far more… visually intricate. It seemed to incorporate all four colors of the Academy. It was composed of an intricate coat that stretched from her shoulders to her knees, a coat that combined a black outer-frame with a white inner-frame, golden borders separating the frames. The trousers she wore matched the outer-frame of the coat, while her intricate shoulder pads matched the golden borders of it all. She wore matching gloves and boots, albeit a dirtier gold in them. Finally, the main piece of the uniform was the flowing red cape. Not only was this cape large enough to reach the same length as her coat, but both sides of it went past her shoulders, being held in place by an emblem of the school in the center of the coat and then went on to descend through her coat, weaving around it and ending by becoming the belt to the coat to finish the quite fascinating piece.

"I'm ready everyone. We should get going, my classes begin in twenty minutes and it's a forty minute walk! I think we may have to cheat a bit to get there in time," she exclaimed, rushing to Shin and planting him a quick kiss on the cheek. "And you need to get some sleep!"

"What do you… mean…" Shin said with two large yawns manifesting themselves. The adrenaline was, predictably, running out after 2 days of nonstop writing.

"Don't worry about us, you know how Fridays are, we'll be back only by dinner time. On the meantime, try to come some sleep and spend quality time with lil' Shiny!" Priscilla said sweetly, unaware of how, Shinryu, who had just flapped into the room, did not exactly appreciate the nickname, booming back:

"Impudent child, how dare you! I am the eldest being here by more than a million years!" his eyes burning bright with unhampered mana. Shinryu was usually nice when it came to Pris, but there was something that he would never get over with, was how small he was right now. And they knew it.

"You also happen to be the smallest," Tina pointed out, swiftly running out of the house as Shinryu chased after her, breathing fire and brimstone at the girl.

"Guess it's 'bout time we get goin'. See ya latter pops!" Nimbus exclaimed, running out of house along with her siblings and parents. As he reached the entrance hall, he saw Priscilla calling:

"Cae!" the Light Dragon answering in mere seconds, landing right in front of the house. Priscilla, Kefka and Tina hoped onto it while Terra took flight. They were too late to not use their less-than-conventional methods by this point. They all waved goodbye and took flight. Shin was left to wonder why Nimbus had not hopped into it. As they distanced themselves, Nimbus smiled at Shin, asking:

"Ya know, I didn't show you this yet, did I?" she asked, Shin raising an eyebrow. Nimbus then proceeded to raise her hand up to the sky and swing it down as if she was pulling something from it. Shin could feel the mana around him change, she was obviously using magic. With that done, she jumped into the air and Shin's mouth hanged right open as a **cloud **speared down from the skies and stopped just below Nimbus, who proceeded to **land on it**! "Pretty cool, huh?"

"You… wha- how?!" Shin exclaimed, Nimbus scratching the back of her head.

"Well, it has to deal with manipulating the air density, but I'll give you the full explanation latter! I'm really late, see ya!" she exclaimed, seriously flying away on a cloud. Shin was left baffled as his girl quickly caught up to the rest of his family.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she's only doing it to match her name," Shinryu commented as he landed on Shinryu's shoulder, his tail curling around Shin's neck. "Now, go get some rest. You'll need to be quite awake when it comes to what I need to talk to you about."

"Is it anything that important?" Shin asked, a bit taken aback by how straightforward he was being.

"It's about Priscilla. She's… dangerous,"

* * *

**Post-Chapter Note:** Yeah, I sliced this chapter in two. Why? Two reasons. First, the introductions were freaking 7K long already! Ya know how big the chapter would turn out if I added the rest of the day? You don't want to. Second, today is October 18th… also known as, Terra's birthday! Happy Birthday to her! My present to her is an entire family. I'm too considerate at times. So yeah, this chapter may have looked like it was merely Shin showing off the kids, but don't worry, next chapter, the REAL last one, will contain much more of the kids and less of Shin just talking about them. And something else… something far meatier… *sinister laughter*.

**PS:** Which of these is your favorite kid so far? Better yet, which of these picks your interest more?


	5. Ever After Part 2: Heritors

**Author's Note:** Just in time! Merry Christmas to all, here is my Christmas present! Yes, after months of absence due to FFXIV, I'm finally back with the last chapter of Undying. For realsies now.

Alright, so it's not a Christmas special, never fear, that will come, just not quite now. You see, I could have done one for today, but that would take a lot of the surprise and weight of introductions and reintroductions of this chapter, so I decided that it'd be better for me to simply release this and get the special a bit late. Okay? Okay.

Without further ado, the final chapter in Undying Sentiment!

* * *

**An Undying Sentiment**

**Chapter Five**

**Ever After... **Part 2:****

**Heritors**

* * *

Branford Academy, the most prestigious school formed in the wake of the Rebirth. It kinda came out as hero worship, not something you, I or anyone would think the Branford family would be happy with.

Well, that was semi-correct. Unlike what you may think, they did not suggest, greenlit, or were even able to dispute the process of building said academy. This tied into the timing for its creation. As was previously said, the Branford Family had passed a great deal of their life living in the quietness of Narshe. Ten years to be exact. During that time, Edgar had taken over rebuilding Mobliz as best as he could, and, always the grand over spender, he had decided to create something to honor people who would never allow honoring to happen to them.

That isn't to say that the Academy was a money waste. No. Much the opposite. It was just what Mobliz needed to survive. As airships became the norm again, the need for a port town for commerce was soon becoming obsolete. Mobliz needed to get with the rapidly changing times of the Rebirth. Now striped of their previous main income of commerce, they desperately needed a way to both capitalize on the previously built structures and to have a function in a world whose size and population wouldn't survive with "useless" towns.

Killing a murder of crows with one stone, transforming Mobliz into an academic town was the perfect solution for all of it. The Academy's location, along with the highly esteemed scientific minds that had agreed to work in it due to longing a centralized place where to share and gain knowledge and the production value behind the massive installations which had more than punctured a hole in Figaro's coffers, had instantly made it an instant favorite through the entire Fantasian globe. By the time Terra's family had returned, they had been forced to just accept what had come to them.

It was at the entrance to these very premises that we found most of our group. Nimbus had passed by them and assured she would head for the PE pavilion while riding her very own, well… nimbus.

"We've arrived just in time… we have a couple of minutes to get to our classes. Anyone need anything?" Terra questioned, taking a quick glance at her schedule for the day. Ever since had word had got out that the namesake of the school was going to actually teaching in it, her schedule, needless to say, had expanded.

"We can handle ourselves by now Mom, don't worry. I'll just get Pris to class and go," Tina told her mother, wrapping an arm around her youngest sister and smiling down at her, Pris just sighing in response. Tina almost felt like a second mother to her. In the bad sense.

"Alright, but don't be late yourself. Same goes for you young ma-"Terra was… barely surprised when she noticed Kefka was long gone. "Oh Kefka… you never change, do you?" she asked herself for a moment before sweeping herself away into classes.

* * *

"I'll come to pick you up at lunch time!" Tina exclaimed as she left Priscilla next to her classroom, ignoring all the ogling looks she got from the girl's class members as she made her way to the other side of the building. She still had a few minutes to get to her History class, so she wasn't particularly worried, and if she was a bit late, she was the master of getting people to let stuff slide.

However, just as she was turning the corner towards her hallway, she was met face to face with someone she knew very well. How could she not know her neighbor of over ten years now? Ciro Adamas young man just about her age and nearly as tall as her, however, his body frame left much to be desired, even if he was of the opposite sex. One can attribute that to the fact that, while not even close to the bookworm Kefka was, he was still a fairly studious person. His eyes and hair matched, as they were both variants of yellow, even if his eyes were closer to gold. She better knew him as the class representative to every single class she had ever shared with him. That being all of them since she came to Mobliz. While he was not very forward most of the times, he was still someone with very good people skills, just in a more subtle way, and most importantly, responsible. He was kind of Tina's opposite really.

"Stalking me, are we Ciro? And here I was putting you on a different stand then the other guys in the school," she teased, making sure to sound as hurt as possible, despaired movements to boot. She expected to get some of his immediate and somewhat denials she had grown so used to cracking a laugh about, instead, she found him awfully gloomy for the moment.

"Tina, we need to talk," Ciro stated, taking a small pile of papers he had been holding on his left hand and starting to browse through them.

"Oh Ciro, if you want to ask me on a date, get in line," Tina half-heartedly replied, the shock of how serious the normally mild-mannered young man had become canceling any chance at sass her tone had.

"Four students were admitted on the Alexandros Foundation Hospital yesterday after being found severely injured on the forest. Doctors reported several gashes, broken bones, internal bleeding and one of them had a ruptured stomach. Three of them will be able to come back to school within the week, but the last one is still under probation. Coincidentally, they all shared classes with either you or your sister…" Ciro stopped, his somber tone intensifying the more he read into it. Tina's previous expression had completely changed, it was just as dark as the person in front of her. "Why?"

"They deserved it," she simply replied, venom slithering down her tongue as her hatred became more and more evident.

"Tina, I can't keep things under the rug for much longer. Hell, this is going to be front page news, the best thing I can do is give you an alibi!" he exclaimed, pushing the papers onto her. They had pictures of them. Tina winced, she did not expect them to be as destroyed as they appeared there.

"They didn't see me. They saw an animal," Tina pointed out, trying to sound in control and handing the papers back to Ciro.

"You talk like you don't know how many people see you and your family," Ciro replied, touching on something he clearly shouldn't have. Before he knew it, he was being slammed against the wall.

"**Don't**." Tina spewed, her features crackling for a moment. She stopped herself moments later, but the guilt had already come to her. "S-Sorry,"

"Don't worry, I knew how much this affects you. I was going to ask you to tell me why again, but… I think I got my answer. Just try to take it easier, okay?" he suggested, Tina shaking her head vigorously.

"I can't let what happened ten years ago come back to haunt us," she explained, the tension of the room reaching an all-time high.

"Tina, need your help!" someone called from the corridor Tina had just come from. A mix of his father and mother, Sky Chere Cole was to Kefka what Celes was to Terra. They were near brothers, which made Tina wonder why he was here. The eighteen-year-old had silvery brown hair tied into a small ponytail that grew just above his shoulder with his bangs slightly parted to the sides. He also wore his father's trademark bandana as a headband to boot. However, whereas his hair was his father's, his eyes were his mother's sharp icy blue eyes, however, much warmer ironically. He was not a very tall man, yet he was not short either, standing at slightly over 1.75 meters.

"Sky? Did Kefka blow something up again?" Tina asked with a hint of amusement. Kefka was always a way to blow off her steam.

"Nothing that major, is just that I don't know if he knew we lecture today. Since he's not in the auditorium, I figured I'd ask if he said anything at dinner," he explained, Tina recalling that Kefka had said that the day after the dinner of yesterday was just going to be a regular old Friday. And so, she shook her head. "Figured. I'll have to go get him then, bye! See ya tomorrow or something!" he exclaimed, Locke's energy showing through the veil of responsibility he had put as he departed.

"Your family is just a whole bunch of trouble, isn't it?" Ciro sighed as he picked up his stuff. "Anyway, let's get going, we all know how the Principal handles those who miss classes,"

"I… guess we are, aren't we?" Tina said, chuckling in a rare moment of serenity.

* * *

"C'mon Kefka, why the doom and gloom?" Sky asked his newly found classmate after a bit of sitting on the auditorium without a word coming from the blonde. They had arrived early for the lecture, well, they had been late, but they had comparatively arrived early considering it had been ten minutes since they got there, twenty past the appointed hour, and there was still no sign of the lecturer. Of course, for most in the auditorium this meant a euphoric ecstasy. They were missing Chemistry class of all things for this. Kefka, however, while he didn't exactly love being in a class, did not mind fiddling with the equipment of the class outside of the teacher's gaze. He'd prefer it to sitting around in an auditorium any day of the week.

"Look, I'm as much of a fan of the idea of not being class as you are, but I am less of a fan of the idea of spending that time doing absolutely nothing. I'd rather be productive than doing jack," Kefka explained, Sky sighing in response. True, he did see his point, in a completely logical standpoint, but he just wished Kefka would use his gut and not his brain for once.

"Still, it's a lecture from one of the teachers that have been with the Academy ever since its founding, they say only Doctor Shantotto has a better resume than our lecturer. Maybe you'll actually learn something from this," Sky pointed out, Kefka actually semi-nodding back. He was, in fact, interested in seeing who was the lecturer. While they knew it was a teacher, it was one of the college section of Branford Academy, which meant they knew little to nothing about him.

It was then that Kefka literally jumped off his seat, his finger pointing towards the front of auditorium and shouting:

"Since when?!" the booming question turning more than a few heads, first towards Kefka but then looking back to the would be lecturer's table… only to find someone there. He thought to have been looking at the stage this entire time out of boredom and hope yet, it was obvious to him now that someone was sitting at the lecturer's table, snacking on some fries while typing absentmindedly on the computer.

The person, rather, the woman had a completely aloof look on her expression when she turned to the rest of the auditorium the moment it grew silent, apparently either apathetic or bored out of her mind. She had long teal hair that had been braided into a loose French-styled braid leaning over her shoulder, azure eyes eyeing the entire auditorium with near robotic accuracy and consistency. She wore no special garments, simply the usual researcher's gown; she didn't seem the type to be flashy anyway. Her only special ornament was a quite intricate red hairpin that hanged on the side of her hair, one that many of the kids of the Blue Planet recognized as the symbol of Mist.

She stood up from her chair, fixing her teal braided hairline before throwing her long serpentine braid to her back and walking up to the center of the stage, adjusting something on her ear that Kefka assumed to be connecting to the speakers, and began talking.

"Have you all finally talked your fill? The lecture has been delayed for quite some time now," she asked, eyeing everyone in the room with a calculated impassivity. One of the braver souls actually spoke up against her.

"With all due respect, our lecturer hasn't arrived yet, nor have you tried to contain our talking at any given moment," the girl that Kefka did not know nor cared about knowing explained, surely feeling full of herself he thought. How sad was she about to look.

"Point taken, however, if you were not even able to notice I was here for the entirety of the time of the lecture, I'd honestly feel like it'd just be a waste of time. On your first point though, you are mistaken. I'm your lecturer for today," she explained, shocking everyone in the room but Kefka.

"Sorry, but we were told we'd be talking to someone that founded the Academy, you don't look that much older than us!" the same girl exclaimed, Kefka nearly laughing out loud. The lecturer sighed in exasperation, no doubt having been met with such claims on a nearly daily basis. And then, as if repeating for the one hundredth time, she said:

"My name is Cuore Mist Geraldine of Eblan, I've been teaching and investigating Quantum Physics for fifteen years now, you can go check it on my resume if you feel so inclined. Anyone who doubts me will just take those problems with Doctor Shantotto. I am here to educate you, not tell you the story of my life, now, are you all ready to start?" she questioned, the slightest bit of irritation coming through her voice, understandably so in Kefka's and Sky's eyes. They had known her ever since they were born, Kefka more than Sky, but they all knew how difficult it was for Cuore to fit in into human society given inherent superiority to them. Thankfully, Cuore's name resonated in more than a few people, and the auditorium quietened as a result. Good. "Now today's lecture is about the theory that I am most known for, the theory of Temporal Singularity,"

"Now, before I start, are any of you familiar with it?" silence came about the entire auditorium. Cuore smirked for a moment before waving it off. "Good, that is because I have not published yet. It is still being analyzed by the scientific community. Things work much slower Post-Rebirth," Kefka sighed exasperatedly. She was always like this. He could never realize if she was really taunting them or trying to imitate the emotion and posture of someone taunting. "In layman terms, it is there to dispel many misconceptions humanity has inherently clung to when it comes to the time-space continuum. Say, the most believed theory, on the masses at least, is that perhaps, every time you make a decision, that simply creates two or more diverging "possibilities of reality", ergo, timelines and that ours is just one out of the insane amount of these possibilities that exists, correct?" Most of the auditorium nodded in response to her as she paced down the stage and back into her computer. "That is both multiversal impossibility and a coping mechanism for humans who can't handle how small they are," Cuore wasn't exactly known for her tact, nor was Kefka, but even he knew that was simply going to create unnecessary traction between Cuore and the students.

However, no matter how many wrathful or disgusted insults were to come about from it, not one was allowed to even grace the auditorium however, as they found themselves fading away with the air of a hundred throats running silent.

"Did she just cast Silence on anyone who opened their mouths?" Sky whispered Kefka somewhat fearfully.

"Without even speaking the incantation or the name. Now she's just showing off," Kefka gnarled, even if he was half-impressed and half-thankful that she had not cast it on himself, he still had some questions brewing.

"Remember everyone, I am here to lecture you. You will speak when I tell you to speak," Cuore reminded everyone somewhat coldly, albeit stating it more as a fact than it was a spiteful remark. "Now, what I meant by that is simple. Humans like to think their decisions matter in the grand scheme of things. Except for some very rare exceptions, humans themselves don't matter in the face of the cosmos. That's the cold, hard, truth. To believe you create billions of timelines on your own lifespan by simply deciding things is simply arrogant. But I'm not going to discuss how big your ego as a species is right now. What I am here to explain to you is simply how it is a wrong notion,"

"Now, follow me for a moment. Let's follow a simple chain of thought. A multiverse, like ours, is constituted by several pocket dimensions that operate separately from each other, correct?" Kefka was fully aware that 90% of the auditorium was just nodding their heads out of necessity. They didn't understand anything. "However, while that was, at first, chalked up to being a byproduct of several timelines, history has recently showed us that that both isn't so and that it all has one single point of convergence, so that theory is not only debunked, but serves to strengthen mine. You see, this just means there's just that many more humans, or should I say, living beings, to sample from. Imagine if, for only a moment, every single one of them made a simple decision, let's say, on the level of simply deciding on what they'd eat that night. In a single moment, billions of alternate timelines, perhaps even more, would have been born,"

"You're assuming that any decision would create a completely different world," Kefka suddenly said, raising from his chair and gesturing towards Cuore. If he was to be silenced, so be it, he still wanted to prod for chinks on the armor for the theory. "Consider this. Maybe only decision that would come to inherently create great differences in the cosmos would make a reality so different in its possibilities that it simply realized itself. Like, to make or not to make a sandwich would not create such a difference, but to kill or not to kill the leader of a revolution that is reaching its apex possibly could," contrary to how most of the auditorium was already praying for the safe delivery of what was left of Kefka's soul to heaven, Cuore smiled slightly at the comment, more than content on having someone that actually wanted to use their brain.

"An apt response, however, it is unfortunately flawed," Cuore explained, a certain degree of care coming into her voice. Anyone would change if they finally felt like people were caring about what you were saying. "Tell me Kefka, what IS it that changes what is "relevant" to what is not? And relevant to what? The cosmos? Humanity? Something in-between? A revolution happening in one country is relevant to that country, but not to, let's say, an alien race three super galaxies away," for a moment there, the auditorium almost transformed into a simple room as the lecture slowly descended into a discussion between what looked to be the only two people either interested or understanding of the subject.

"What you mean is that, for that to happen, someone or something would have to decide what was relevant or not, right?" Kefka guessed, the twenty four year old Maenad sitting on the edge of the stage and nodding back, her legs starting to unconsciously rock back and forth. "But that is still a logical possibility," he gleamed, Cuore nodding yet again.

"If that was the only or even more decisive argument against it, yes. But it isn't. Here is the paradigm that destroys that theory. If a timeline creates billions of timelines every second, or even if we go by your theory and it only creates, let's say… two a second, that is being generous may I add. This means that every timeline it spawned would also create the same two a second, causing in an infinite inflation that would eventually clog the very time stream," Cuore explained, Kefka countering nearly immediately, just as she'd expected it.

"How are you sure that the timestream even has a limited space? Better yet, how are you certain that time even has a mass?" Kefka questioned, completely unaware of where Cuore was taking these arguments from and what her info was.

"Kefka, is the universe infinite?" Cuore asked, Kefka becoming stumped. "No, it isn't. It's expanding indefinitely. Infinity is a concept, not something achievable. There cannot be something forever. Same goes for whatever the timestream is. It may be constantly expanding, but the timelines would also be constantly increasing in number, but exponentially more so considering that every new timeline would also be creating timelines, ergo, the number of timelines is indefinitely increasing as well as it is indefinitely **accelerating**. In short, it is an eventuality that the growth of the number of timelines surpassed the timestream's potential expansion and then it'd be a matter of time before it was filled. Which in a space where time is relative like the timestream it'd be… nigh instantly. As for the mass? Information can only be transferred through mass. Spirits have mass, magic has mass, everything has mass, that's one of the basis of existence. We exist because we have a mold in which to exist," at that moment, Kefka simply nodded back and plopped down on his seat. He had been utterly told. And the funny thing is? He was the only one that understood that.

Cuore soon understanding that no one else in the room was following her, decided to make it into a more accessible experience, "Look at it like this," she took out a controller and turned on the projector connected to her computer, showing a large tree with apples hanging from it on an empty field. "Think of the tree as our timeline. And apples are what we call "deviations", that your decisions create," the moment she said it, the apples fell from the tree, planting themselves on the ground and creating even more trees. "As you can see, the deviations create more timelines. However…" the process then began to repeat itself, both for the trees that already existed and for the new ones. Creating more than double the trees this time. "If this keeps repeating itself, then even if some trees, or timelines, die along the way, the rate of creation is always rising, the more it rises the more trees are created and at higher rate," One thing happened on screen that differed from the norm. Just as the trees were about to fill the orchard, some humans tore down the barriers and began prepping new soil for them to grow on." Now, as you can see on the background, some humans have been expanding the field as the number of tree grew… still, since the trees are born at an increasingly fast rate, there comes a time where the soil they are preparing simply cannot keep up with the tree and fruit production. This is the problem with the previous theory on time. It can't be sustained," she explained, enlightening the smarter minds and at least leaving an expression on the… less than blessed ones. At least they weren't all lost. Kefka was aware of Cuore's theory in full by now, however, he still had one final question.

"Cuore, hypothetically speaking… if the timestream began to be strained, what would happen to the timelines?" he asked, Cuore taking a finger to her lips and going into deep consideration.

"Well, I can only theorize. This is how I see it however," Cuore said, pulling up a small leaf of paper from one of her pockets. "Imagine this is paper is Time. If I do this…" she said, beginning to crush it repeatedly until it was nothing more than a formless ball of paper. "If I crush this paper, it will be full of "malfunctions". "Time" would be "cramped". You either would not see what is written in the paper or it'd be ripped apart in the process of crushing it. I'd say that the timelines themselves would either begin experiencing unions or simply malfunctioning due to lack of space, either skipping parts of it or looping. They would all lead to one thing though, that is undeniable," Cuore said, standing back up and going back to her chair, picking up a single bottle of water and chanting under her breath the "Water" spell. The bottle began to expand and expand as more and more water was added into it, until it inevitably exploded in a burst that resounded throughout the auditorium and everyone's minds. "Complete collapse,"

* * *

"Damn Kefka, I sometimes forget how big of a brain you're packing, "Sky commented off-handedly as they left the auditorium. Kefka had been pensive this entire time, as had Sky. Sky however, was just trying to piece together everything he had just heard, he was somewhat above average on the brain department, he was a B+ student, but he felt out of his game in the implications thrown around there.

"And I forget how much of a difference there is between me and her…" Kefka said for once in a blue moon genuinely bummed out. Sky almost never saw Kefka let loose such a tired sigh of defeat. "It's so obvious in retrospective, but that's the entire difference between those who discover and those who reproduce,"

"You should at least give yourself some credit," Kefka thought for a moment those words came from Sky, but instead he found a very familiar hand touching his shoulder. "You were still able to put up a solid argument, without any prior study on the matter even," Cuore assured with the closest you'd get out of her for an uplifting voice.

"You didn't tell me anything about what you were investigating," Kefka said, turning away his head in a gesture of indignation, leaving Cuore genuinely confused while Sky could just shake his head.

"There they go again…" Sky sighed, slightly amused but mostly exasperated.

"You didn't ask," Cuore simply responded, as if she had done nothing that could have ticked off the blonde.

"You know that I'm interested in this kind of things!" Kefka shot back, crossing his arms and frowning. He didn't expect Cuore to get it, but it wasn't in his nature to take these things lightly.

"This thesis never came into conversation, so I withheld talking about it. You humans take such insignificant things too much to heart," she said, biting her tongue in the process. She had said humans again. Generalized them. For a moment, looked down upon them. This was not something that had just happened now, she had done so repeatedly in the lecture. She was not proud of it. It had become increasingly common lately. The more she studied the more she saw the gap between her and them grow and… the more alone she felt.

"Maybe. But you still owe me one!" Kefka exclaimed, holding up a case familiar to both of them. Cuore smiled. At least there was still someone that made the gears in her head need some oil.

"Is that a challenge? Your win ratio has still not risen above ten percent," Cuore sneered back with an energy very few saw in her, much less provoked.

"I need two more wins to do it! Don't get so full of yourself, I have improved more than you lately," Kefka exclaimed, taking her hand and starting to drag her. "Sky, tell Quists I'm sick or something!" he exclaimed, his mind set on the library.

"What?! You and me both know that she won't believe it!" Sky exclaimed, but Kefka had already dragged the Maenad around a corner. "And… she always shoots the messenger…" he sighed and skulked in the direction of his next class. He knew he was dead meat.

* * *

"Alright teach, what's in for today?" Nimbus asked as she arrived on the pavilion for her PE class only barely past five minutes late. Every one of her class had already arrived by now, however, instead of preparing themselves for whatever they were supposed to tackle today, they were all in a straight line, picking up papers from a box the teacher held.

"Ah Nimbus, change of plans. The Blitz Sphere ain't working, so we switched PE with SD for the day!" the now noticeably manlier musk of Tidus exclaimed, the retired Blitz player handing one of his students their own paper. Tidus had never quite reached Jecht levels of muscle, but even now you could see that he had beefed up considerably in his Blitzball playing days. Old age had done nothing but good to him, as he had finally been able to grow a beard, much like his old man had, one that he didn't even need to care for. The rest was still the same ol' Tidus, just with a deeper voice.

"SD?! So that means we're sparring today?!" Nimbus exclaimed, stars in her yes. Self-Defense classes had become standard the past school year. Monsters were everything but extinct, and the fusion of all worlds had only made the wildlife more unpredictable. As a response to that, they had at least tried to make teens more combat ready than their previous societies would ask. Nimbus adored this mindset, most other people… not so much.

"Yes we are, BUT-"Tidus warned, removing the basket from Nimbus grasped just as she had jumped for it, causing the young Esperian girl to crash and burn on the floor. "You're not going to be in the draw!"

"Aaaaaaw! Why would you do that?!" Nimbus exclaimed, feeling robbed. She had anticipated the day that her school would stop trying to ease her classmates into fighting and just let them pound each other to the ground! In a completely sportive way mind you.

"Because most people here would just be thrown around like a ragdoll by you. I'm giving you a task that will benefit me and you at the same time though!" Tidus exclaimed, smiling as he pointed with his thumb to his left side. "You and Stratus can get the first spar, for educational purposes. I mean, what better way to study something than to see it in action, right?" Nimbus' teacher said while gesturing to the girl's best friend as she stood there, ready to go.

Stratus Fair, age 16. Stratus looked the part for being the only daughter of Zack and Aqua, proving that the Mako-infused eyes of SOLDIER did, in fact, pass down to the next generation, along with a hair that seemed to take a page out of both of her parents, unruly dark blue spikes falling down until they hit her shoulder line. While she was of her mother's gender and took most of her body build and facial features from her, she was so much like her father that it made her the perfect companion for Nimbus' spunk. Even now, Nim was sure that Stratus had been the one to suggest the switch to their teacher. Not that she minded at all.

"Exactly teacher, I think this is the best way to get people into the cla- give those back!" Stratus began, voice dripping in confidence as she began drawing on a pair of wooden bamboo swords. All that swaggering turned into whimpers as Tidus confiscated both, with a smile that showed just how he not only knew that she had tried to use him, but he was about to get his revenge.

"We're teaching hand-to-hand combat, remember? No need for these things!" he pointed out, waving the pair of weapons in front of Stratus and dodging any attempts she had at getting the swords.

"Hehehe… hey Nim, give me a hand here!" she half-begged, understanding in just how bad of a situation she was in. Nimbus just laughed in the face of her suffering. "C'mon! Just because YOU focus on martial arts doesn't mean I should get backstabbed like this!"

"Alright fine, fine," Nimbus agreed, taking a deeper breath while she gave a thumbs up. "I won't use magic, that alright?" she offered, Tidus shutting it down immediately.

"Of course you won't. Half these kids can't use magic, so magic is off limits… for both of you!" Tidus teased, taking off his chronometer at the same time. "Five minutes girls, give us a show!"

"Why you…Oh, to hell with it!" Stratus shouted, beating her feet against the floor in frustration before stabilizing her breathing, taking a fighting stance. "I'll give you a handicap Nimbus!"

"You sure you want to do thi-"Nimbus began to ask, suddenly feeling the need to let her body fall backwards to avoid the coming roundhouse. "Oh, we're serious, are we?" she taunted, flipping just before she hit the ground, landing safely and propelling herself backwards. Her feet hit the ground just in time for her to brace herself for the right handed punch Stratus had thrown in her direction. With the dexterity of a wild beast, Nimbus not only avoided it with as little movement possible, but she grabbed her opponent's outstretched arm, using it to flip the girl straight into the ground.

"This, everyone, is how you use your opponent's strength against them!" Nimbus exclaimed, proud of her accomplishment as she could be. "Heh?" she gasped as she felt her body suddenly become airborne. It took moments for her brain to process that Stratus had just pulled the cushioned floor straight from beneath her feet. When she did however, it was too late. The bluenette had taken a hold of both of Nimbus leg's and spun her in place twice before throwing her straight into the nearby wall.

Nimbus didn't have much time, but she managed to twist herself in midair in order to impact with her hands and feet on the wall. Not that her opponent didn't predict that, Stratus had started sprinting the moment she threw Nimbus, jumping to deliver a flying kick on the draconian girl. It took Nimbus backflipping horizontally on the wall to dodge it. Not once, not twice, but three times, as Stratus chased after her with a flow of kicks. She only stopped because both could feel their momentum dying and gravity starting to show them who was boss, forcing them to jump off the wall and land safely on the ground.

"Not gonna lie Strat, that carpet thing was a dick move," Nimbus told her whilst putting on the best taunting grin she could manage.

"Yes, because what you did to my hand was aright and all," Stratus replied, turning her right hand to show a gash that went through the side of it and into her arm. "Your scales did that to me if you're wondering," she pointed out, referring to the crystalline scales that grew on the side of Nimbus' face.

"Oh, I'm not. I was just wondering how I could utilize it better… got it!" she said happily, throwing off both of her shoes, revealing her clawed feet. Stratus' sweat suddenly became tenfold.

"Hey, you're not gonna…" she gasped, gulping down heavily as the light of the sun reflected on those especially sharp nail-like-claws.

"Heads up!" Nimbus threw, only moments before swinging her right leg wildly through the air towards Stratus' face. On the side, Tidus was simply sitting back and shaking his head. Students had asked him if he shouldn't stop this, but he knew it damn well that the girls did far more dangerous spars on a daily basis. At least they would maybe impress some people enough to have them be enthusiastic towards the class.

"Will. You. Just. Cut. It. Out?!" Stratus exclaimed, stopping every time she had to either block or dodge one of the razor sharp strikes. She noticed that she had gathered some deeper than scratch injuries now, she was overflowing with adrenaline. "FINE! Be that way!" she screamed, letting one of Nimbus' legs connect with her torso on purpose. She took the impact as well as she could, surprising her opponent for long enough to get a good grasp on her shoulders. And just like that, Stratus straight up headbutted Nimbus as hard as she could, crystalline scales and all.

Needless to say, it hurt her as much as it did Nimbus. The pavilion just stared in sheer shock as both girls proceeded to throw themselves on the ground, grabbing their injured head and flaying their legs almost comically.

"Was that really necessary Strat?!" Nimbus shouted, still half-dazed from the power behind the headbut. This went both ways however, as the girl in question took more than a few seconds to say something back.

"Look at me, I have more holes in me than Baronian Cheese, yes, I very much think it was necessary! Now let's just finish this so that I can actually heal myself!" Stratus exclaimed, the lack of adrenaline making her cuts and punctures more than noticeable. This, however, had a strange effect on Nimbus.

"Hey, teach! You said we can't use **magic**, right?!" she asked in a tone that clued Tidus in that she was onto no good. Still, he couldn't really deny it, could he?

"Yes, but why are you asking?" Tidus asked, cursing himself for being so dumb mere seconds later. Nimbus' grin had gone wide and brilliant at the response, lengths doubling over, as if bracing for some sort of impact, hands cupping on the side of her torso.

"Well then, here's Uncle Sabin's…"she began, a pure whitish blue sphere forming between her hands, growing with each passing moment. "AURA CANON!" her voice thundered, her hands thrusting forward and letting flow a streaming wave of energy whose shockwave was enough to clear any cushioned floors and the people standing in them between it and its target, Stratus. The girl in question just yelled:

"What the hell Nim!" turning to what seemed to be to run away from the beam, but, knowing she could not outpace it, she was instead rushing towards the wall, jumping towards it to gain a higher foothold and attempt to dodge it. What came next was the utter destruction of the pavilion's wall.

"The principal is going to murder me…" Tidus could only whisper as he saw his life being scattered to the four winds along with the remains of the wall.

"Sheesh… maybe I overdid it." Nimbus pondered, giving herself a healthy laughter while she scratched the back of her head.

"Ya think?!" Stratus blared from one of the chandeliers at the top of the pavilion, hanging on for dear life. "And what was that about, didn't we agree to no magic?"

"I used a Blitz… it's not _technically _magic!" Nimbus replied, knowing full well how she was arguing semantics. And winning. "Now come on down, time ain't over yet!" the irritation on Stratus was visible by this point. Heck, she was about to bust a blood vessel.

"You know what… screw it! If you want to play dirty, you won't outplay me! **Blizzara**!" she boomed, caring little about the rules at this point, Nimbus had thrown that off the window the moment she blew up half the east wall. She first created five shinning spears of pure ice around her body, then commanding them to attack with her hands, the five dashing towards their target in an irregular fashion.

"Oh, you shouldn't have gone there! Tremble!" Nimbus commanded, stepping on the floor as hard as she could… which caused three enormous spears of rock to apparently cover all directions around her, nearly giving Tidus a heart attack due to the property damage that was about to happen. The icicle spears could do nothing but crack the structure, Stratus being expecting this, as she was already chanting yet another spell.

"Out with it Nim, **Blizzaga**!" she boomed, blasting the structure apart with a giant chunk of ice… only to find nothing there. "How? Wait, there was no pillar on the opposite end!" her realization came far too late. She heard the distinct sound of a certain cloud wheezing behind her, turning to see her friend and rival swinging down a staff made out of rock direction into her forehead.

"Lights out!" Nimbus exclaimed… just before feeling her entire body being thrown around against her will. Before she knew it, she was near ground level, her body being carried under one of Tidus' arms, Stratus being held by his other arm.

"Time's up for the both of you. And let me tell you, you two just landed on a minefield of trouble!" Tidus exclaimed, more relieved that she was able to avoid any further property or student damage than he was angry at the two for letting their hot blood gain control of their heads. That relief didn't last long. For any of the ones on the pavilion. It only took one distinct laughter.

"Ohohoho!" to freeze the class in place. They didn't breathe, they didn't even need to look at the small round bony bouncing in their direction. They knew the tidal wave that was coming. They just hoped it'd pass by them, not over them.

"P-Principal Shantotto!" Tidus, Nimbus and Stratus all gapped, the former trying his best to keep a straight face, even in the face of all this destruction.

"Girls, your teacher speaks true, I've got a Promanthian punishment, just for the two of you!" Shantotto exclaimed, the Tartaru being nigh gleeful… okay, fully ecstatic about getting an excuse to boss around two of the school's biggest troublemakers. They weren't Tina, but they were damn close. However, she didn't end there. No, before Tidus could relax, she added: "Still, professor, have you seen the state of this facility? You better be ready to take… responsibility," she whispered, her staff forming itself on her hands.

The pavilion would take months before it could be open again after what transpired next.

* * *

Morning had come and went rather quickly for the smallest and youngest of the family. Priscilla was not an honor student by any means, nor was she someone that paid attention to every single detail in class. She did, however, truly excel in keeping herself entertained. Drawing, writing, wondering about the shows, books and games she had played, if she was ever bored, she was able to simply clear it away on her own.

Whenever that failed, there was always her neighbor, with which she shared a table with. Iris Fuco had been Priscilla's best friend ever since childhood, and it was easy to see why. One of the first Alexandrians to attend the school, she was, like many people in Zidane's world, not exactly human. Sure, at first glance one could see a really short, as in, shorter than even Pris by a few centimeters, red-haired teenage girl. What people did not miss for long, however, were the quite prominent wolf ears sticking out of her head or the fluffy-but-not-as-fluffy-as-Pris' red wolf tail tipped in a bit of white. Her heterochromia also made her present herself with a green eye and her right blue one.

That being said, Iris had bolted off the classroom as soon as the bell rang, making a beeline for the bathroom, leaving our girl to pack her things as she waited for her sister and her.

It was then that she was approached by a single teenager that she knew nothing about. She wasn't shocked about the fact that she didn't know this teenager, transfer students were frolicking about due to a program with Academia recently. However, to come talk to her was strange. While Priscilla wasn't persecuted in her class, she was hardly the most popular person in there.

"Why hello there," the boy greeted, raising his hand and doing his best to sound friendly. Priscilla smiled back and returned the greeting. "So you're Priscilla Branford, am I correct?"

"Yes, but how did you know?" she asked back at him, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. It wasn't that he was being rude or forceful, but there was something in his eyes that didn't sit right with her.

"I only listened to the roll call. Your family must be quite the doozy, to have an Academy named after them," Priscilla couldn't help but raise her eyebrow. He didn't know who her mother was? True, her Papa's books hadn't exactly reached the entire population, but Mama had saved the entire universe. Twice. She was too famous for him not to know who she was. Still, she played along, wanting to know if what he wanted.

"Y-yes. But I'm not that special," she hoped she could do better than that, but while her mind had formulated the answer immediately, she still stuttered once or twice while trying to look him in the eyes.

"Well, I'm new here, and I'd be honored to have someone has prestigious as you showing me around the school, if it's not too much to ask that is," for anyone else, it'd be obvious that this guy was hitting on Priscilla. For someone that was ten times as dense as her mother, he sounded like someone asking for help. This put Priscilla against the wall, as she fiddled her fingers, trying to find a way to tell him that she had to meet her sister and her friend for lunch. It wasn't until she heard Iris' voice that she knew that something was up.

"Hey, let go of me!" Iris shouted from the entrance, the small girl being held up in the air by the most generic large bully imaginable.

"Hey Jaune, this dog can talk!" the brute yelled, waving the light fifteen year old around as if she were a puppy. To Priscilla's shock, the teen she was talking, as well composed and nearly charming as he was, adopted an expression she had tried to lock away in the back of her mind for the past years. That was sheer disgust.

"This is why I didn't want to come to this damn planet. Subhumans everywhere!" he exclaimed, turning from Pris and appearing to set his sights on her friend.

"Leave Iris **alone**!" Priscilla yelled, for a moment losing control of her magic while she stood up in anger, a storm of pure white snow leaving the brute about as frozen as a popsicle whilst Iris managed to jump off his untouched clutches quite easily. This, of course, gained Jaune's attention, whose eyes immediately focused on the tail.

"You… you're one of **them**. They named this damned place after that _thing_ that they call Esper that killed so many of our race, don't they?" he whispered, his hand sliding down his pocket and pulled out a primed Pulsian Energy Knife. "Hell, I get to catch her spawn on my first day, talk about lucky!"

Priscilla could feel her magic acting up, and she was not sure if she wanted to suppress it this time. She hated the very notion of what magic could do, especially hers, which she barely even understood, she had just frozen a boy without even chanting a spell. Yet, the eyes of this person were dark, hateful, she knew he wasn't about to hesitate.

She was just glad he wasn't even given the opportunity to.

You see, before anything else happened, a hand grabbed onto the attacker's shoulder. He had no time to react as Tina grabbed his shoulders and slammed him against the nearby wall, breaking he window behind him in the process, which put his body dangerously close from a freefall.

"What were you trying to do to my sister, you little bitch?!" Tina snarled, scaring even the very people she was trying to save. Priscilla hated this situation just as much as the one she was in. Tina was glowing at this point as she shoved the teen into the broken glass of the window. "What has she ever done to you?! I should tear you in half!" Pris knew. Tina was serious.

"Tina, stop!" Pris yelled, to no avail, Tina was beyond any words at this point.

"Calm down kitty cat, this isn't your turf," the savior to the entire situation said, another acquaintance to Pris popping in to stop this from getting any darker. Ceres Adamas was, like her name implies, Ciro's sister and the antithesis to Tina. She was head of the disciplinary committee, that should say something. Gifted with green eyes and a long smooth dark chocolate hairline, the girl's hourglass figure somehow had more than enough strength to down Tina easily, even if it was from a sneak attack.

"Thank you for getting that sa-"Jaune quickly received a swift and brutal kick to the balls before he could finish the sentence.

"Not here to help you, I'm here to get her off any more trouble before my brother has a heart attack," she told him, trying to hide the real reason she had helped Tina as best as she could. Pris knew she was as disgusted as Tina however, she just didn't want to agree with her.

"Heh, to think Plain Jane in the Mud would actually help me for once," Tina snarled, shaking her head whilst standing back up. "Tell your brother I owe him one,"

"What?!" Ceres boomed back, her forehead nearly colliding with Tina's. "I stopped you from getting yourself expelled and this is how you repaly me?!"

"Your brother most likely told you to keep an eye on me. That and I see no reason to thank you for doing your job," Tina replied, sliding her eyes to the other side and whistling.

"Why you ungrateful little…"

Priscilla knew that Tina and Ceres were not going to stop her tango any time soon. Smiling for a moment, thankful nothing awful had come of this, she was relieved when she saw her art teacher bust in the room, eyes wide open yelling:

"What in the Warring Triad's name happened here?!" Relm Arrowny yelled out loud, ending the violent encounter.

* * *

"Yes! Weekend!" Iris cheered as she and Priscilla left the school at four o'clock in the afternoon, the hyperactive girl jumping over the gate to the school before the gatekeeper even had the time to open it. Priscilla was far less jubilant about it. She loved weekend, but the events of lunchbreak still weighed heavily on her. It was like a blast from the past, in all the wrong ways. "Pris… something wrong?" Iris asked, her ears flopping down like a wounded puppy. Priscilla dispelled her worries as fast as possible.

"No, it's nothing! It's just that, Jaune-"

"Forget about that bozo! My cousin probably took him straight to Shantotto. And you know what happens when a troublemaker goes to Shantotto!" the wolf-girl claimed, Priscilla being unable to not smile in the face of such energy. This is why Iris was the best girl for her to be around. She would always rescue Pris from any of her not-so-rare trips into self-guilt land.

"I'll try. So, heading back home?" she asked her friend, who suddenly had her ears stand right back up, proceeding to take her trusty notebook out of her back and checking something on it.

"Hey Pris, been meaning to ask you, up for some mountain climbing?!" she quite randomly asked, raising a brow out of her friend. "Don't give me that look! I found out this amazing sight of Mobliz, you gotta check it out!" she exclaimed while hopping around with full on glee.

"I don't know, I mean, my Papa is waiting…" Pris began. Immediately afterwards, she was hit with Iris' ultimate weapon. Literal puppy eyes. Priscilla is Terra Branford's daughter. There was no resisting literal puppy eyes. "Okay, I'll go with you Iris,"

"Yes! Let's get going then!" Iris exclaimed, rushing in the direction of the horizon. Priscilla could only giggle in response, taking into chase.

"Wow, slow down Pris!" Iris said… from Pris's side?

"Iris? How?! You just left running!" Priscilla was sure of what she had saw. Iris wasn't good at magic either, so there was no way she had cast any spell. Was she just THAT fast now?

"Huh? I was waiting for you!" she said, her ears immediately standing up… again as she did the exact same motions to get her notebook out. "Hey Pris, been meaning to ask you, up for some mountain climbing?!" she asked, further freaking out Pris. Her tone had been the same, her question had been the same, her position had been the same. Iris had awful memory, part of the reason why she carried down a book to write notes on, but this was just too much for her to forget.

"Iris… you alright?" Priscilla asked with genuine care for her fiend. She was half-worried about her, half of her told her this was a prank, she did not want to listen to the other half.

"You're the one acting weird Pris! You know what? You're coming, whether you like it or not, you need some fresh air in that brain!" Iris exclaimed, grabbing onto Pris' hand and sprinting down the street. Pris wasn't half the athlete Iris was, it wasn't long until the inevitable happened. She tripped.

And then she woke up.

"Where am I?" Priscilla questioned, her eyes scanning the area. A lush green forest, on a hill if the inclination was to be believed. Was this…

"Wakey wak- oh, you're up already! Darn Priscy, you need to work on that stamina, you fell flat the moment we arrived here!" Iris exclaimed from atop the tree Pris was leaning against.

"Was it just… a dream?" she asked herself, unsure of what she had experienced. She didn't remember getting to the hill and she was sure that the way she tripped would at least leave a bruise… but nothing had come to her. She shook her head and decided it was best to just leave it as a strange dream and a rude awakening for now.

* * *

"Check and Mate," Cuore stated as she decisively drove her custom made queen piece into the exact square she had driven Kefka into not being able to counter for the last ten turns. "That is nine point seventy eight percent win ratio Kefka, you lost over two decimals today," the Maenad pointed out, bumming out Kefka to no end.

"Shut up… I'll start my counter attack now!" he assured her, ruffling his blonde hair in frustration before starting to put the pieces back together.

"Not today you won't," Tina said from the entrance of the library as she and a somewhat burned Nimbus stood there, waiting with crossed arms.

"We're only supposed to rendezvous when classes ended," Kefka told them, being shocked once Nimbus pointed at the clock at the center of the library, which clearly read 18H: 21M.

"Leo ain't gonna wait much longer," Nimbus told him, forcing her brother to begrudgingly give in.

"We can continue our match tomorrow," Cuore suggested, causing the slightest glimpse of a smile to douse Kefka's expression.

"I guess we can," Kefka always tried to sound as distant as possible, today, he failed horribly.

Cuore felt her lips also pucker into a smile as she saw them leave, reminded why she had more people than just her family that she had befriended. However.

"Ohohoho! Look who we have here! A Researcher that has missed an entire afternoon of work I hear!" this was enough to make even Cuore's blood freeze. And then sear.

* * *

"Took you long enough!" Leo Cor, the son of Duane and Katarin said, checking his watch in the process. His hair had finally grown into a wild-spiky sandy blonde mane that was only outspiked by Nimbus' and of course Cloud's. He was slightly tanned in complexion, much like his father and his namesake, but not too much, stood at a dead average 1.80 meters and was, much like Nimbus, sporting a sportsman's build. Fitting for who was…

"What boyfriend complains for his girl to be late?!"Nimbus asked, gripping Leo's chest as hard as she could. Thankfully for Leo, he trained with Nimbus on a day to day basis, so he didn't get his back broken… by chance.

"Honestly, I have to agree, I mean, you're already the pinnacle of patience for letting THIS one be your girlfriend, yet you complain about a couple of minutes?" Kefka added. It was a gigantic shock to every single person in the family that the first person to have a date life was Nimbus of all people, yet, it had worked spectacularly for the past year, Kefka finally making sure that Nimbus was in fact a girl, and not an asexual being in the process.

"Stores close at half to eight," Leo simply said, opening his car with a simple click of his key. "Now get in, we have barely an hour,"

"Alright! Operation: Buying The Best Gift For Pris is a go!" Nimbus shout with enough ham to feed a behemoth for a week. And so, they rode into the coming sunset.

* * *

"We're just in time for the sunset!" Iris exclaimed, plopping down on a large cliffside while motioning Pris to sit by her side. The view was pretty, but not too much in her view, just a overview of the city with the sea leading towards the horizon. "Just wait a bit, alright?" Iris asked, her best friend nodding. "Hey Pris… you know we're tailies, right?" she asked, her "taily" giggling at the term Iris had invented to replace "besties". She wrapped her tail around Iris and performed a "tailshake" to a confirm it. "Well, after what happened today, don't hesitate on asking me for help! I don't know what happened ten years ago, but I won't let it happen again!" The commitment and devotion Iris put in that statement touched Priscilla to her very core. She had hidden what had happened in the year before she moved there to the best of her abilities. She and her family had done their best to remove that time for existence. And yet, iris didn't hesitate in offering to help her. "Huuuuh… it'd help to know WHAT happened ten years ago though," Priscilla knew she was right, yet, she was not ready to tell her. Not yet.

"Ten years ago was the only time I saw Mama cry," she vaguely responded, leaving a soft silence to take the two friends as they both waited for sunset.

Just as Priscilla was about to think nothing would happen, it was as if the sea had caught on fire as the sun touched it. As the flames took the sea, the reflections of the water and sun took to every window in the town of Mobliz, creating an unrivalled burning sea of light and water that took Priscilla's eyes by storm. She had never seen anything quite as beautiful as this.

"So, whadaya think?!" Iris asked, chest pumped out of pride.

"It's beautiful Iris! I… I promise I'll make it up to you. Tomorrow, at my birthday!" Priscilla exclaimed, emboldened by the flames of the horizon and the previous words of her friend. She felt, no, she knew, that tomorrow she would start a new chapter in her life's tale.

Little did she know, that chapter was one to be written in the annals of history.

* * *

An Unending Saga to be concluded in:

**An Unending Stream**

* * *

**Post-Chapter Note:** What, you thought I wouldn't tease plot? Pft, you wish. Yes everyone it is official. AUS2 will happen. This was all a set up for it. I know that AUS1 is still to be finished but don't worry, that will come soon enough. This was a celebration and I hope that you loved every bit of it. I sure did.

So, did you like the kids in this chapter? Were they who you thought they'd be? Did your preferences on the kids change? Tell me, I hunger to know!

Alright, so we finally finish this story for good. I'll probably post the Christmas Special here too, but it's outside the plotline, so this will be the technical final chapter of it. I hope you had as good of a ride as I did, see you next time in our Unending adventure!


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